The Wonderful World of Stamps!

Did you know F. D. Roosevelt was a stamp collector?

Did you know Benjamin Franklin was the first U.S. Postmaster General?

Did you know the first solo flight made by a woman was by accident?

Did you know a little girl was mailed 75 miles to her grandma's house?

Today we went to the Spellman Museum of Stamps in Weston, MA.

The program was fun and interesting to sutdents and parents alike!

We learned so many facinating things from the stamps.

Maybe we will start collecting!

Here my son is studing a stamp.

An F.D.R. stamp from a french country.

Stamp geography!

(I'm not sure who likes all the great things we do as a home school family more, my son or me!)

What was that weather forcast?

How do you capture the wind in a photo? This is what I came up with.

I am no stranger to wind. In Wyoming where I grew up the wind only blew during the "Wyoming Wind Festival"

When is that do you ask?

Well it is from January 1st to December 31st!

When I woke up this morning the temperature was 41* and the sky was heavy and grey. The rain soon commenced. Then it warmed up to a balmy 44*. My son decided to go play out in the rain. He donned his heavy winter coat and fastened the face cover. I told him, "You don't need that it is warm out." I was talking to my friend in Kileen, TX at the time. She said that was cold!

Well it rained off and on for most of the after noon, but then the sun came out, and the wind picked up! We have lived here for 18 months, and it is rarely windy here. The wind is a part of Wyoming I don't miss!

I'm Blending!

My son loves the chameleon on Dr Doolittle 2 when he is finally "blending" at the end of the movie. There is a critter blending in this photo. Do you see it?

Nice Day

We went to Co-op PE today. When we got home is was so nice out, 41*! So I decided we would take the dogs (and me) on a long over due walk. It was nice to get outside for a while. I have always lived in the northern states, but I still do not like the cold. I am not a winter sports activity fan. I love the first snow of the year, then I'm done. But winters are always MUCH longer than I would like. Did I mention I tell my husband I think I could love living in Hawaii?! He thinks I would get island fever. I don't know. So I enjoyed getting out for a walk.

Refrigerator Doodle

This is the sight on our refrigerator today. It changes. It has been a turkey, a Christmas Tree, a star, various animals, and symbols. There are 4 of us living here, and even I finally go into the game of creating Refrigerator Doodle! I never know what I will find when I enter the kitchen. And I don't always know who did it. It is a fun little thing we do. I'm glad we do.

Shawsheen Aquaduct, Middlesex Canal

Since we moved to our current residence at the end of August we drive by this old bridge several times a week. I have wanted to take a picture of it, but never stopped to do it. Today there were no cars behind us when we approached it so my husband pulled over so I could get a couple of pictures. I think I is really neat. Of course I needed to know what it was before I showed it to you, so I looked it up.

This canal was created in the early 1800's. It ran about 27 miles from Boston to Lowell Massachusetts. It was operational for 50 years. It was considered a "superhighway" in its day.

There is a museum near here that is open April - September, I think we will visit this spring. For more information on the canal try the following links.
http://www.middlesexcanal.org/

http://www.wallpaperhistory.org/resources/articles/pdf156.pdf

What a COOL Kid!

January 26, 1991 at 11:46 pm my third son was born.

Today he is nearly 6 feet tall!

He is such a joy to this mom's heart and soul!

He has always been so easy going and cheerful.

In my minds eye I can still see his smiling face each morning as he awoke.

He would sit up in bed and look at you and grin from ear to ear.

As the baby for 7 years, he also learned how to fend for himself.

I remember standing on the porch one bight sunny day.

I looked towards the pasture where the 3 boys were playing.

The oldest was lying on his back.

And Richie picked up a huge rock.

Or maybe it was a small boulder!

And he walked up to his bother,

Who was still lying on his back,

Stood over his head,

And dropped the bomb!

I was dumbfounded!

I never did figure out why.

He was 3 or 4 at the time.

I believe his brother still carries the scar.

But each morning he greeted me with that beautiful smile!

I love you Richie!

Happy 17th Birthday!

(OK this picture is from June 2006. He didn't like the one I have from December. This was the first time I saw him and the 2 older brothers in 2 years. I had just returned from our assignment in Korea. Oh Happy Day!)

Good Morning Moon

When I got up this morning my son and my husband both informed me they used my camera to take a picture of the moon. The both said it was very crisp and pretty. I am so excited because they are thinking and noticing to pick up the camera and take a picture. Photography is a passion for me that I would love to see them enjoy. I cropped this photo and tried out a border, which I love. The border really helps make the moon stand out! Great job Dad and Roo!

Lego Fun

Our son received this Pirates of the Caribbean ship for Christmas from his Grandpa Bill. He plays with it a lot. Notice the Darth Vader on board. When I mentioned it to him he just said, "Yep!" with a smile. OK, whatever floats your boat!

Here is one of son's creations.
Our oldest son is 22 years old, so we have been "collecting" Lego's for about 18 years. The collection is quite large and fills 3 of the 4 blue bins in the post below. The forth bin, I'm almost ashamed to admit, is all Bionicle's. But my son spends many hours entertained with them!

Red Squirrel Visitor

This little Red Squirrel was about the size of a chipmunk. He was very cute. We all watched him for quite a little while at the feeders. I don't know where he came from or if he will be back. but we enjoyed watching him. My husband decided he must be the type of squirrel portrayed in the movie "Over the Hedge!"

Generation Gap

I was sitting here thinking today's picture may have to be a "blast from the past." Then I overheard my son talking to his Grandpa Bill. So a dashed upstairs to get the camera and snap a shot of my son on the phone with him. My son is teaching Grandpa how to play a hunting game on the computer. And he knows what he is talking about! "Hi Grandpa Bill!"

Moon Shadow's, fires, and more!

It was very cold here this morning, about 8* F. when I got up. We have a fire place, but very little wood to burn. You see, we moved here at the end of August and getting fire wood was low on our list of priorities. So I like to "ration" my fires! Today I decided it was cold enough to burn a fire. And first thing I took my photo for today.

This fire kept the upper level of our split level nice and toasty today without having to turn up the heat!

But then something else happened that was photo worthy. I asked my dear husband if he would clean our son's room for me (he is much better at weeding out the trash than I am~ya never know if that little piece is something important) and he said yes! It looks beautiful! And it should stay that way for at least a couple of days!

But then we decided to play Sorry. I used to get board with this game, but the other night I was reviewing the rules because we had not played in quite a long time and I noticed they have rules for adults. These rule are so much more fun and out 10 year old one one round tonight!

This next photo I am really excited about! It is a Moon Shadow! I figured out how to go completely manual with my camera. It isn't the best, but it is really cold out there tonight and I just can not stay out there long enough to get it completely figured out. I can't wait to practice some more!

What We Saw Today

We saw 4 White Tail Deer getting ready to cross the road on our way home from church today. It was very cool for us as we really miss seeing wildlife. We live in a north of Boston town and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of undeveloped land around here. This is only the second time in one and a half years living here to see deer in Massachusetts. The first time was December 30, but it was too dark to get anything but eye shine in the photos.

I really had to zoom all the way in to get this of the big buck with them. I am shocked it came out so well.
This is the buck and a doe taking off after standing there staring at us for several minutes. One of the does did cross the road and the other 3 deer turned back, but appeared to want to cross, but were spooked by the traffic.

Loammi Baldwin Patriot

This memorial statue is in a neighorboring town near my chiropractor's office. We have to go past it and the sun was shinning brightly on it yesterday. I snapped this shot as we passed by. I didn't know who it was, so after I downloaded the photo I enlarged it so I could read the name, then searched. I posted a link if you want an interesting little history lesson.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loammi_Baldwin

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

I confess, I didn't take many pictures today. I did take a few, but I haven't downloaded them yet. Instead we watched a movie. "An Unfinished Life" with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Lopez. The movie was filmed in British Columbia, but its' setting was Ishawooa, Wyoming. I grew up in Wyoming and couldn't wait to get out of there. But as I matured I realized how much I love the Great State of Wyoming. So I decided to post some pictures I took while visiting in June of 2006. That was the last time I was there.

This is Devils Tower from a distance.

These are some red hills at the base of the tower.


This picture represents the diversity of the area around Devils Tower.

Here is a close up of Devils Tower with my son in the foreground. This was his first time seeing the tower even though we drove within 20 miles of it dozens of times. He thought it was pretty impressive!

God's creation is so beautiful and diverse. Take the time to enjoy the diversity around you! To learn more about this fascinating geological formation go to: http://www.nps.gov/deto/

Army Men

I looked out my patio door this morning to these Army Men as abandoned by my son. I thought they looked rather interesting in their poses.

The Sentential

In the Trenches

Dug In

Hide and Seek

Normally I would have procrastinated and probably not gotten these shots. My son would have rearranged them or brought them in. I instead enlisted him to help record the battle!

One Great Balloon!

I purchased this balloon on Nov 30, 07 for my son's birthday party. It is still floating to our utter amazement. I purchased it at a dollar store!

(This Balloon is 49 days old as of this posting.)

Edited Jan. 19, 2008~tonight the balloon is not strong enough to stay up unless the string is partially supported. I guess it is nearing the end! (51 days)

Pink Sunrise

I took this photo out my sons bedroom window early this morning. This georgeous pink hue only lasted a few moments. I feel blessed to have been able to capture the creativity of our Heavenly Father to share and remember. It was truely awesome to behold!

I Love the Snowblower!

This is the Severe Weather Warning from The Weather Channel online when I woke up this morning:

"SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO FALL THROUGH THE MORNING. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES... WITH OCCASIONAL SNOWFALL RATES OF ONE OR TWO INCHES AN HOUR. SNOWFALL TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL TAPER OFF MID TO LATE MORNING IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY AND BY EARLY AFTERNOON IN THE MERRIMACK VALLEY."

"ENOUGH SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE TO CAUSE SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES DUE TO DOWNED POWER LINES." Thankfully we have had non of this to this point and the snow has slowed immensely!

"TRAVEL WILL BE HAZARDOUS FROM THE COMBINATION OF POOR VISIBILITY AND SNOW COVERED ROADWAYS. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...ALLOW PLENTY OF EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION." My dear husband had a meeting first scheduled at 9am, but that was canceled due to the roads. Later he did go to the 7 11 to try to get me some Chili Cheese Frito's to put in my chili, they were out. But the roads were pretty much cleared- they don't waste any time clearing the roads around here.


"...HEAVY SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON..."


















Well, here is the final product... mostly. It is still "lightly" snowing, but less than an additional inch is expected. If you scroll down to yesterday's post you will see a lot less snow in almost the same shot (I didn't step outside for this one.)

These are two of my favorite things...my husband and the snow blower!














"THE LATEST SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON, MA: ....our town..., 9.0"..."

You may be wondering, "What's the big deal with the weather reports?" I have a good friend in Texas who has never experienced snow like I have most of my life. And I have meen rooting for all the snow we got in December to melt completely away before we received any more. Almost, but not quite. So, last night I decided to record the snow for those of you who don't know what it's like to get a foot of snow in 12 hours or less. I really do like the snow, as long as I don't get cold! :) While living in North Dakota I learned how to dress to stay warm, but not be too bulky or hot when I got to my destination. Today tough, I never even put shoes on. I remained blissfully happy in my slippers while sons and husband went outside.

This pair of cardinals visited my feeders off and on today. I love how vibrant the males look against the snow or the evergreen trees!

Heavy Snow Warning

It was a beautiful day here. The sky was clear and blue. The sun was warm. The two and a half feet of snow we got in December is almost gone. This is what I got from The Weather Channel just now:

"...HEAVY SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 7 PM EST MONDAY..."

"SNOWFALL TOTALS OF 8 TO 14 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY MONDAY EVENING."

"DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM MONDAY...SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE LIKELY. TRAVEL WILL BE HAZARDOUS FROM THE COMBINATION OF POOR VISIBILITY AND SNOW COVERED ROADWAYS."

For those of you that know me well, you know how much I look foreward to the first snow of the year. It is so beautiful, especially here in New England, it floats down and is the same depth over the entire yard. Where I grew up in Wyoming, the ground would be bare on one side of your yard and 6 feet deep on the other side. And rarely did the snow "fall", it whipped! We could receive just a couple of inches of snow and be in blizzard conditions for days! LOL!

Well we've had our first snow and now I'm done. Have I ever mentioned here I would LOVE to live in Hawaii? I tell my dear husband and friends all the time, "I know I could live some where it doesn't get cold!" Hawaii has snow on at least 2 islands, I could go visit the mountain snow once a year and get my "snow fix" and then happily trot off back to the beach! That is my dream, this is my reality!

This picture is of the snow mostly gone from my yard (remember we had 2 1/2 feet) and of the beautiful blue sky early this afternoon.

The second photo is of my 22 year old taking down the Christmas decorations later this afternoon. (Notice the grey skies?) If you asked him, he would tell you he didn't like taking down the decorations.

I know better though, this is one of the few times I actually approve of him being "...up on the roof top..." The snow has finally melted off enough that we could get it all out of the snow.
This next one is of my husband taking to star down from the flag pole.

So, here I sit, waiting for more white stuff to start falling.

Alas, I know this is where God wants us right now. So I will choose to enjoy the snow, however much or little we get.

Stay tuned for the after photos tomorrow!

Koda's Haircut

My 10 year old son decided my Koda needed a haircut yesterday. I noticed the evidence first, then went looking for the dog. Yep, you can now see Koda's eyes. All in al it isn't too bad of a job, but I haven't asked how much trouble he had getting him to hold still! Well, it needed to be done anyways! It is a little choppy, but I kind of like it!

New England Steeples

This is the new library in the New England town I live in. I don't think a steeple was necessary, but adds to the aesthetic appeal of the building and keeps in line with the traditional look and feel of New England. As I approached the building this evening it was raining and misty. I was barely able to see it even though it was light up. When I left about 45 minutes later the rain had stopped. I took this picture of it with the on the manual Av setting on my camera with an F-stop of 7.1 (slowed the shutter speed.) I didn't have a tripod or anything to rest the camera on, but I am pleased with the overall outcome of the shot. It was fully dark to the eye.

This is a church in the town center. It is half a block away from the library. I took this picture on the same settings as the library. I like how the tail lights from the cars and in the shots. This is the first time I have gotten shots like these.

I am enjoying the challenge of being on purpose in trying new types of shots.

Baby Gwyneth Rose

OK first this is NOT my photograph. I took it from this Blog site http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/search?q=

This is the story of an awesome young Christian family. Gwyneth Rose is almost 3 days old and was born at 24 (I think) weeks gestation and her dad was able to touch her skin to skin for the first time last night. Her mom has Cystic Fibrosis and is recovering from the birth of her beautiful daughter on a ventilator.

The faith of this family has encouraged me as I have read this blog and trust they have in God!

Please give me NO CREDIT for this photo or story as it is this young families and God's! I just was in tears of awe and joy as I read Nat's (the husband and father in this family) entry this morning and felt led to share with some who may not have run across this awesome story of God unfolding. Father God, bless this family as they each day put their trust and faith in You!

Faithful Companion

This is Millie. She is my sons dog. We adopted her from the Animal Shelter. She was a stray and the sweetest, timid thing. They estimated her to be about 1 1/2 years old when we adopted her and think she is mostly Golden Retriever with some Cocker Spaniel in her. Even though my 10 year old is the youngest of 4 boys, he is also like an only in many ways. Because she was a stray they did not know her exact "birthday", so my son decided she would share his birthday because that would be around the time she was born. So Millie has been and continues to be his companion. We were unable to take Millie with us when we were stationed in Seoul, South Korea for 2 years. I family from our church offered to keep her for us while we were gone. They took very good care of her and the mom of the family prayed that Millie would not forget her "owner." They had 4 children who loved her well while we were gone. Our son cried over leaving her even though he tried to understand how hard it would have been on Millie even if we were allowed to take her with us. (We already knew we would be living in high rise housing where pets were not allowed.) He mentioned her nearly daily in his prayers the entire time they were separated. So, when we arrived at our friends house to reunite our son with his dog we were apprehensive about wheather she would remember us. Millie immediately, upon seeing us, alleviated any and all fear of her not knowing us by jumping up on each one of us (myself, our son and my husband) as if to say "Hello, where've you been?" Then she promptly trotted over to our car and jumped in as if to say. "O.K., let's go!" We actually had to pull her out of the car as it would have been rude to pull up, retrieve our Retriever, and leave!

Beautiful End to a Beautiful day!

Wow! What an awesome God we serve. I was getting ready to start dinner and looked out the door to this gorgeous sunset. It has been cloudy here most of the past month and the colors in this sunset are not done justice by my amateur photography. It was such a wonderfully mild day here our temperatures reached the low 60's and we went out and about in just light jackets. Thank you Lord for the gift of this sunset's beauty to show how awesome your creation is!