stranodesigns

And everything like that.

Do you know when you have the little sayings in life that only mean something between you and the person you shared it with? Well i will let you in on one that Lou and I say to each other. Minds out of the gutter please!

Ella is turning 8 in 4 weeks and I was thinking about my pregnancy and pre-mom days. When I was pregnant with Ella, we had issues {Dec 2, 2006}. We still went to child birthing classes. It was uncomfortable being in a room with happy pregnant women. And me with issues, had issues being there. But leave it to Lou and me to find humor in the remotest circumstances. At the birthing class, the teacher was a labor nurse. Her first name escapes me but her last name was Walsh. She had a very strong Cape accent. She had been thru 1,000's of births and was probably not the best suited person to teach classes   BECAUSE..........

EVERY sentence was ended with "..... and everything like that." This was her pausing mechanism. OMG it drove me crazy. She said at least 100 times in an hour. By the 3rd class Lou and I got the giggles and could stop.  And now instead of coming away with parental wisdom, Lou and I only remember her speech idiosyncrasy.

So imagine her talking about an episotomy....
"The doctor may have to make and incision to prevent tearing and everything like that."

Or signs you are in labor....
"Your lower back will hurt and everything like that."

Or the epidural.......
" If you move when he does this you might be paralyzed and everything like that."

Or a c-section....
"They will cauterize and everything like that."

On emergency care for the baby....
" in some cases, they will use a vacuum and everything like that."

And 8 years later, we are still ending sentences with an occasional "and everything like that."

Happy 4th

from bakerella!

I love these cupcakes on a stick.
I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with singing, swimming and fireworks.

And no trips to the ER.

At the Neck... more pics

So I was never able to figure out why I could not load images. And finally realized hey... it is not me! It was typepad! And now I think something funky is going on with the font. Arrrgh!!! I cannot get the underlining to go away.          h o w   a n n o y i n g

At the Neck

Fine Art Friday

Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast

Painted when he was 27 years old.

The year begins with the  portrait ofMrs. Henry White, the wife of an American diplomat in Paris. In February, Sargent visits his parents and sisters in Nice. On the 10th he writes to Vernon Lee: "In a few days I shall be back in Paris, tackling my other 'envoi,' the Portrait of a Great Beauty [Virginie Avegno Gautreau] . . ."

Sometime during the year he does a number of  studies in anticipation of the final oil. This sittings are not going well. This was all uncommissioned and done in anticipation of a critical exhibition of his work at the Paris Salon. 

See more by John Singer Sargent!

Typepad has been giving me trouble!

Anyone else having probs with typepad? It is not letting me load more that one picture in a post. I am going to the pool today so I plan on bringing the following; 4 kids tons of snacking materials for them loads of sunscreen my camera sunglasses if I can find them and my laptop to solve the typepad problem. and a partridge in a pear tree!

Summer hits the Cape

Yesterday was our first official day at the beach.
It was a 10.

We went to Sandy Neck with the girls and it was a gorgeous day. We are in a bit of a mini-heat wave and it was over 90 here. Really unusual for the Cape in June. And keep in mind, no central AC in the house.

We drove out to almost the end (about 4 miles) and there was hardly any one around.
And BONUS! it was low tide.  There were gazillions of sanddollars and clam shells. It was wonderful.

Trends

I once read that to every trend there is an "anti-trend".

So like when SUV's started showing up in driveways, at the same time the mini cookies and snack stuff showed up. Remember when mini oreo's made their debut?

What do you think the anti-trend to eco-friendly-everthing-must-be-green trend?
Is it toxic-over-the-top-wasteful?

Red is the opposite of green. But wait a minute.  We already experienced a red trend with the Gap Product Red campaign.

So is green really an anti-trend?

And think about this......
What is the anti-trend to Hannah Montana?
Bitsy Brooklyn?
or maybe we already have one - Britney Spears.

Evidently..... size matters.

What size are your cupcakes?

Sophie's First Show

My Sophie had her first art show. It was wonderful.
The kids studied Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Matisse, DaVinci and Kandinsky.
Then for each artist they did a their interpretation of the artist.
It made me smile and realize how awesome a kid's eye is. No hangups and so real.