I loved seeing all my cousins (and their kids too) bopping around - even Aunt Carol is dancing! Sonja & I took turns taking video of each other dancing with our dad, we were so tickled to be dancing with him! :) The dancing continued all evening - this bunch had endless energy!

A super fun evening celebrating my youngest [Torpey] cousin's very happy wedding...

We felt like paparazzi harassing royalty when we suddenly ended up following the bride & groom's limo on a winding back country road! (en route to the reception)

random yard we passed, seemed like a good omen:

a fun rustic venue for the reception:

Welcoming the newest Mr. & Mrs. Torpey!




A toast from the bride's family...

and then my dad stood up to give the prayer:

(notice the little bowls of M&Ms? ;)

After dinner the lights dimmed, in preparation for dancing! (video to come :)))

chillin' later on by the campfire (with the proud father of the groom and a few of my favorite cousins :)


Best wishes for happiness ever after to a great couple ~

2 hours outside of any city looks like Kentucky

This looks like it will be a good movie, reminds me of issues we face with the possibility of hydro-fracking happening here:

Driving home from Bloomfield, there was a moment when I had to do my pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road-take-snapshots thing

contrails at sunrise

meanwhile, this was going on in the yard while I stood at the back door snapping pics of the sky:

CDB! -- ICU!

remember this great book?
(of course I was partial to it because it had KT)

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

so much tactile stuff in the yard right now

favorite Bond theme songs/title sequences

Been on a bit of a James Bond marathon lately, in anticipation of the new film coming in November. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of watching Bond films with my dad (who has often had an air of Sean Connery about him ;) - despite the chauvinism and violence, I always loved the stylish-ness and exotic locales

my kind of week

(a.k.a. this week's happy list...)

1. Monday: moving around my monitors and workplace set-up - it's that thing like moving your same old living room furniture around: feels like a whole new place

2. Tuesday: after a rough month for Cookie, seeing her return to her feisty, cuddly self

3. Wednesday: starting new painting classes!

4. Thursday: celebrating my dad's birthday at John Lithgow show then Black & Blue with family

5. Friday: touring Wendell Castle's studio! - So inspiring to see a team of highly skilled men & women creating wonderful pieces representing Wendell's vision. As always happens: through learning about their process, I gained better appreciation for the final pieces. I can't find good photos online (especially of the specific pieces we saw, his newest works) that quite convey how inviting the pieces felt in person - you just wanted to lay all over them. And at age 80, they say his studio is busier than it's ever been!

Bonuses, all week: catching up with Spring/Summer 2013 Fashion Weeks around the globe... last week: NYC; this week: London + Milan! blah blah blah run around barefoot while the weather still allows!

deh deh de - dehhhh...!

Can't wait!


(but um, Q looks like Harry Styles...?!)

A woman who works with her hands is a laborer.
A woman who works with her hands and her head is a craftswoman.
A woman who works with her hands and her head and her heart is an artist.

― St. Francis of Assisi

(...posted on the wall in the studio where I just started taking a painting workshop :)

sunrise walk

up our road (unfortunately only had my cell phone camera) - less than 50°F, first morning I've worn a scarf & gloves since last spring


above, looking east; below, looking west




returning to our yard: