Pink Roses

my blue heaven...

The first hydrangeas of the season were blooming this morning. {sigh}. I never get tired of them...

...and luckily they bloom all summer.  This color is so calming and restful to me...makes me want to paint my bedroom blue!

e...

She is the calm in the storm, the voice of reason.  She is grace and beauty and charm.  She is my studio partner, my work out buddy, my wardrobe consultant, my fountain of youth.  She is my sister, my mother, my friend. 

She is my daughter.

It's nice to have her home...

52Q: weeks 16, 19, 20...

week 16: what is the truth?

week 19:what gives me hope?

{prayer & faith}

week 20: what is my latest obsession?

I don't really get obsessed, but I am enjoying making stitched fabric collage pieces...still need to add to this... p.s.pink and green just might be my oldest obsession! :)

52 Q: weeks 14, 15, 17, 18...

I am 7 weeks behind on sharing my 52Q tags, so here goes!week 14: What was the last good book you read?

I used an illustration and words from an old children's "Dick and Jane" school book, with a little pom-pom and rick rack trim on the end...

week 15: What makes me, me?

This is just a bit of an old letter, vintage wallpaper, and rubber stamped "me"...

week 17: What is my superpower?

watercolor paint and Micron pen doodles...

week 18: What's on my to do list this week?

I really had to laugh at this one, because it fell on my ALL TIME busiest week of my life!  I just wrote a list on a 3x5 index card (which is what I use to make all of my to do lists)and left it like that...     My ridiculous busy week speaks for itself, and that is one week I am glad is over!  

3 more tags tomorrow... 

morning sun...

I've never been a morning person, my kids aren't either.  Oh, we get up and go...to school and work and such...but when left to our own body rhythms, we would sleep all day and stay up late.  Yesterday I got up at 6:00am to take Elizabeth to the airport...it took 2 alarms to get me out of bed.  This morning I woke up at 6:15 all on my own. 

When I came downstairs to make coffee, I was greeted by the first rays of the morning sun streaming through the sunroom windows...(you can see that I did read my magazines, and that Christopher sat out there with me, working on his laptop!)...

The snapdragons looked like they were glowing...all these great shades of pink on one stem...

Right now, while the house is quiet and the sun is shining, I have my coffee and my camera and you,  I am thinking...maybe I could be a morning person after all!

where was I?

Did you ever have one of those days that was just a do-over?  Well this last week is a do-over in my book!  Actually, I'm not really a person that has regrets or says "if I could do it all again..".  I feel like things happen for a reason, that there is a plan. I just don't always see what the plan is! 

This time last week, Christopher was camping, my parents had just left to drive home after a week visit, and Elizabeth and I finally had a little quiet time. We went to Panera for lunch, and then to Borders so I could get my "Somerset fix".  I was planning to curl up on the sofa in the sunroom with my new magazines, and soak in some sorely needed inspiration.  That's when the phone call came. 

Here I am one week later and I just remembered the Border's bag with my magazines in it, that was still in the trunk of my car!  It is actually quiet here for the moment...so I'm headed to the couch to read.  I'm getting a do-over of last Wednesday!  And if the phone rings, I'm not answering :)   now, where was I ...

healing...

Christopher had a steady stream of visitors stop by to see him yesterday, all of his friends who are home from college, came by to cheer him up.  I watched as these boys, so big and strong and almost men, came in and treated him with such gentle love and care.  Their words and actions were so compassionate, that I had tears in my eyes knowing that they would be such good husbands and daddies someday.  I am grateful to all mothers who are raising the next generation of men to be strong and smart, yet gentle and caring as well.  It is not enough to just feel it, you need to show it too.  His friends did so much to heal him yesterday.

And you helped to heal me.  Your words, your prayers...filled with love and compassion...lifted me up.  You will never know how much your friendships mean to me.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart...we are both doing much better today :)

9 lives...

Either my son has 9 lives, or someone is watching over him.  He left Tuesday for a week long camping/hiking/biking/rafting trip in North Carolina.  He and his friend Mitch planned the whole trip (they are both Eagle Scouts), and it was going to be a dirty sweaty testosterone boy adventure.  Sleeping in tents, cooking over the fire, etc.  I totally trusted him and the 3 other boys he went with.

Yesterday at 2:00 I got another one of those phone calls...

He was riding down a mountain on his bike, they were going fast (20 mph), and the safety latch on the front wheel of his bike jiggled loose...his front tire FELL OFF, and he was thrown from the bike and tumbled down the mountain like a rag doll.    

His friend Zach called me, and I spoke to Christopher , who was conscious, but unable to move..."Mom, I'm really hurt, can you come get me..."

Elizabeth and I started the 3 hour drive to the town in North Carolina where the accident occurred, while the Park Rangers got him out on a stretcher and an ATV, then took him by ambulance to a hospital.  Zach kept us updated, and we found our way to the hospital.  He was still in the emergency room when we got there, strapped to a board with a neck brace, in extreme pain.

His has broken ribs, 3 damaged vertebrae, a concussion, 2 chipped teeth, and a million cuts and bruises...but he is alive, and it could have been FAR worse.  I am grateful for that. I am taking him to another doctor in Atlanta tomorrow.

This is a picture of he and his girlfriend last week when I picked him up from college.  You should see how broken my little boy is now...

she did it...

My daughter graduated from college on Friday and I am so very proud of her.  Listening to the Dean give the Commencement speech filled me with such hope.  We are all so fortunate and blessed to live in a land of such opportunity, with rights and privileges that others can only dream of.  It is our duty to give back, and help others.  I know the speech was intended for the students, but it had me in tears.  I am filled with excitement for what the future will bring...

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you the very best! xo suzanne