Beauty in black and white!

I've really been into making alot of the photos I take lately into black and white photos, it gives even the most odd shot a unique look. My plan is to frame some of them in square black frames and hang them in our family room.

Reflection!

I didn't notice my reflection when I took this picture of the garden frog my mother-in-law gave me. Thought it was kind of cool how it turned out.

To see a world in a grain of sand
and Heaven in a wild flower'
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour
..William Blake...

Anna's thought for the day!

"If you think your fat, you probably are" which is precisely why today starts my quest to own one ass instead of two, wish me luck!

ok ok enough photos of my pets already, I hear ya!. But is he cute or what! And yes he is that fat and yes his head is that little, this is not trick photography 

Happy Birthday to our sweet little G-Ma (Shorty) We love you!!!! 

Remembering 9/11

Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven

Two thousand one, Nine Eleven
Six thousand plus arrive in Heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying,
"Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green they say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomers said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear
"The only thing we have to fear.
The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"
The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores

A silence fell within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts
of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell
But not alone

"Look! Black-man, White-man, Brown-man, Yellow-man
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three fireman raise
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow - but I don't see fear,"

"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one.

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
Six thousand plus heroes, newcomers to Heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine one eleven.

Author: Paul Spreadbury

The other night while doing the dishes, I had my Keith Urban cd playing. I love Keith Urban, unfortunately the rest of the family is not so fond of him. As I was getting the jeers from the family for my choose of music, like "turn that crap off", "do we have to liston to country", and "hey its qweef urban", my cat Maxxi got up on the counter directely under where my under the cabinet radio was blastin the tunes of Mr. Urban from his Be Here cd and feel asleep. I brought the family out to the kitchen to see there was proof of another fan in the house. "See", I said "he loves this music so much it soothed him into a deep sleep" Their reaction " look that craps so boring it put him right to sleep" and "he feel asleep in self defense ".....I personally think he was letting me know he approved, if that isn't the look of a fellow Keith Urban fan I don't know what is....

Finally, time to reclaim the house. Both kids are off to school and the hubby's at his emergency responder training for work so the house is mine, another day to spend doing some major scrubbing. Summer has sure taken a toll, with a teen and a preteen running around and not much time to clean, I'm ashamed to say in the last 3 month I have only moped the floors 3 times, thats once a month," YUK". With 4 pets, 1 husband, and 2 boys who forget to take their shoes off at the door, the mop bucket from yesterdays scrubbing looked like a mud puddle and smelled just as bad. I wonder what surrprizes are in store for today. Yesterday while vaccuming the hubby's recliner for pet hair I tiped it up to clean the under side and found 2 forks, a spoon with something growing on it, a peice of a poptart, a candy bar wrapper and a cat toy ( alittle money would have been nice but no such luck) And while changing the teens sheets I found a cricket on his bed (dead thankfully) and while vacumming my youngest sons room on the carpet was 3 little guinea pig droppings and a mess of hay right in front of the cage(I'm sure it dropped while he was refreshing her cage, but still for some reason he decided to leave it for mom to pick up). I spent all day cleaning and making the house smell fresh and clean with a good dose of Jungle Jack cleaner my favorite(you can get a big jug at Fleet Farm for about 5 dollars works great on everything from counters to floors and smells awesome) anyway spent all day cleaning, made a great supper, I even baked a dessert (recipe at bottom) my three men got home from school and work within exactly 3.2 minutes the house was strewn with shoes, book bags, papers, the toilet was used and not flushed, the hubs lunchbox thrown on the counter with the first 3 words emitting from his lips where "whats for dinner?" not hey beautiful, sweetie, snookums, princess,babe, love of my life who willingly cleans my shorts, keeps my house clean,makes good food for me and my offsrings bellies. No I get "whats for dinner" after 17 years together he's still a charmer, infact that charmed me at bedtime right into my mens jammi pants and a tshirt instead of the cute little white dress jammi that he so loves. This morning the comment" it was damn cold last night" probably did not have anything to do with the temperature I'm guessing even though it was damn cold.. I'm betting tonite when he gets home I'll get a kiss and a few sweet words probably a wink and an ass grab too, to let me know he'll have none of the cold sholder thing tonight....Anyway heres the recipe ladys its a winner all three of my men loved it even the dog ate a bite and liked it. Just be sure to double it works better and make it in a cake pan or a casserole dish instead of a sheet pan like you would a crisp..

Anna's Apple Crunch

6 large apples, sliced and peeled
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
Spread sliced apples into a buttered baking dish. Cover with the sugar and cinnamom. Mix flour, brown sugar and butter together until crumbly. Spread over the apples. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping or ice cold glass or milk.