Random

Nice one, Gwennan!















Highly dissatisfied ...















Whilst peeling apples today, remembered I had to go to Target.

















The fire on Mark's camping trip

Camping in the Cohuttas

I almost changed the name of this post to "Green and Blue" due to the dominance of those colors in the photos attached. Mark and I went camping with Bevin and Zellyn at Lake Conasauga in the Cohutta Wilderness a few weekends ago, and all of our photos are green trees and blue lake. It's so zen.

We drove up Friday afternoon, stayed through Saturday night, and drove back Sunday. It was entirely too short. It was so relaxing, even with our noisy campground neighbors listening to college football.


We were afraid the weather would be too warm, but it was actually quite nice. While it was about 85 in Atlanta, it was more like 75 up in the mountains. And it cooled down quite nice at night.



















Gwennan came with us and she had a blast. She explored all over the campsite, collecting rocks. We took her down to the lake and showed her how to throw rocks in the water. Once, while she and I were quietly sitting on the grass by the lake, she pointed at the lake and said, "Joos!" (Juice.) Everything liquid is juice to Gwennan.













We hiked on the path around the lake and played hide and seek with her. I would run ahead and hide behind a tree waiting for her and Mark and then jump out to surprise her. Sometimes she and I would go hide behind a tree together and then jump out and surprise Mark.

Lake Conasauga is not a big lake, and only electric motor boats and canoes/kayaks are allowed. We rented a canoe for the weekend and had fun paddling around. Bevin and I went out Saturday morning and explored the whole lake. Bevin is so much fun. At one point she said, "Let's paddle as fast as we can and see how long it takes to get to the other
side of the lake. It'll be like we're Indians."

That night Mark and I paddled out and marveled at the stars. I even saw a shooting star - finally. Bevin had seen like three of them on Friday night and I was jealous. One thing I love about camping is actually being able to see the stars. Light pollution sucks.













On Saturday we went for a hike up a nearby mountain. There was an old fire tower at the top of it, and you could climb up the stairs and get a beautiful view of the Cohuttas. Unfortunately you couldn't actually go onto the platform at the top of the stairs. The door was locked.
So we sat on the stairs and enjoyed the view from there.



















On Sunday we went for one last hike with Gwennan before leaving and she fell asleep in my arms before we got back. I had wanted to take her into the water before we left. Mark and I had taken swims in the water after we went hiking on Saturday and it was so cool and refreshing, I wanted Gwennan to experience it too. But she had fallen asleep and we debated whether to just put her in the car and head home or wake her up. We decided to wake her up, which seems mean, but you should have seen her when we stuck her in that water. She loved it. I waded in with her and we looked at rocks and little fish and all sorts of stuff.

I'm so glad she's learning to love nature. She'll be a little granola girl yet.

Art in the Family

My dad just launched his website touting his artwork if you'd like to go see it:
http://www.simplifiedinternetdesign.com/shafranskiart/
Here's a sample of what you'll find:



















For the past several years my dad has been finding his artistic self again, mainly doing pen and ink illustrations of Native American culture. (No, he's no Indian - he's as Polish-American as they come.) He's finally making a go of actually selling his work, which is very cool.

He and my mom met at art college, so they're both artistic. My mom taught art for years at the college level and still does a lot of painting, although for many years after retiring she didn't do much art at all. I think she was a little burned out, a little disillusioned. She's been picking up the paint brush a lot more in the past few years, and she too is beginning to sell her work more.

It excites me to see both of them getting back into their art and putting themselves out there - especially at their age. It encourages me and lights a little fire in me to do the same. My brother and I both inherited a lot of artistic talent from our parents. I can draw better than most folk and Marc (my brother) - well he's just plain talented. He too works in pen and ink - a really unforgiving medium - and he does some really intricate stuff, mainly focusing on "fantasy art". You should see some of his "other-worldly" landscapes. Maybe I'll scan and post a sample of it for you sometime.

My dad turned me on to photography when I was a wee lass and that has been my main artistic medium for years, although I've always wanted to pursue painting more. It's just hard to do when you have a toddler around. Right now my focus in life is on Gwennan and on Future Baby #2 that we hope to have next year. But what my heart wants is to open my own art gallery one day, focusing on photography, but also exhibiting other media.

I love art so much. To me, being creative is the heart of all human beings. So many people have that part of them quashed when young, when they're forced to focus on more "practical" things, but I believe it's still there in them. I believe we were all "made in the image of God", and who is more creative than the Creator? And if we're like him, then we too are creators of a sort.

I look forward to heaven, when that part of us that is like God will be expressed fully, without the hindrances of this world. Think how creative we all will be then!

Gratuitous Cute Toddler Photos – Late Summer Edition

Gwennan is growing up fast. She's developing a personality that has some striking similarities to mine and Mark's. This worries us.

She's learning new words all the time. She says "thank you" (more like "tan too") a lot, but she hasn't quite grasped what it means. When I give her something, and request she say "thank you," she looks at me like, "whatever" and walks away. But when she wants something from you, she says, "tan too" in a way that's more suggestive of "gimme." I'm trying to teach her the word for this is "please," but we're still working on that.

Another word she picked up is "shoe". She knows what shoes are, and she'll bring her shoes to you to put on her, saying "shoe!" But for some reason, she also calls the phone "shoe". Not sure where that came from.

She also says "off", but she doesn't really know what that means either. We taught her how to work light switches, holding her while she turns the lights off and on, which fascinates her. As she's doing it, we say, "Off! On! Off! On!" The word she grasped is "off" and now that's what she thinks lights are. Whether they're on or off, she points at lamps and ceiling lights and street lights and says, "Off!"

She has started climbing things more and has learned how to make her way up onto the dining chairs.



















We sometimes throw a phone book under her and let her eat her meals this way, if they're not too messy.



















She's learning how to feed herself ...














as well as her toy, "Creepy Cat" (called thus by Mark and me because its eyes to seem to follow you. Uhhhhhh.)














She's taken to sticking things in her ears, which is worrisome ...














and she's also learned to multi-task, taking important calls on her cell phone while eating lunch.














Finally, a few shots that just show how gorgeous she is. I've never seen a kid so beautiful.