conference time!

Friends, at the sprightly age of 44, I've gone to my first professional work conference. I've had my first business trip. I'm a true adult now, I guess. Or something.

The conference in question was the Association of National Advertisers Nonprofit Conference, and it was held in downtown Chicago, so my friend Jill and I each got to take the train in (her from the suburbs, me from the South Shore station at Dune Park) and spend a couple of days promoting our employer and telling people all about how much everyone needs a proofreader. Yes, even me, and even you. We ALL need proofers.

I was very nervous about going because I'm not exactly the epitome of "professional," but it ended up being a really great time. I learned a lot, met a lot of new people, and even met one of my bosses for the first time (after 12 years of working for the company). Plus, at the end of the conference, the companies that donated to the swag bags (that's right, I got my first swag bag) were giving away more swag and were going to throw it all away rather than haul it back to on their flights, so I loaded up a bunch of bags filled with earbuds and yo-yos, and schlepped it all back to the train and brought it home and distributed the goods to Henry's fourth-grade class and my sister's third-grade class. A win for everyone!

I might never go to another conference again, given the nature of my work, so please enjoy this very professional selection of photos from the two days.

kittehs!

There are new kittens at my parents' house. Everyone stop what you're doing and prepare to be overcome by the cuteness.

first day of school!

It's so quiet! I'm working, and the only sounds are the clack-clack-clack of my keyboard and the mournful rustle of the dogs wandering the house, bereft because their boys left for school this morning. This afternoon I'm sure there will be a joyous reunion, but in the meantime, pups are sad and I am not.

Behold: a sophomore, an eight grader, and a fourth grader!

well that was weird

Liam had tennis practice this morning, so I had to sneak away from work to go pick him up. I was in a hurry, so I almost missed that I was behind this truck:

Do you recognize that patio? I see it every day. That's right, it's our actual patio! With our actual patio furniture! And our actual pasture. We're stone celebrities! Seriously, though, it was deeply weird to be stuck at a light behind this truck, thinking, "Wow, that's a nice patio. They must do nice work. Wait a second ... that patio is awfully familiar." Once I started thinking about it, it made a lot more sense, because the man who used to live here works at a company that manufactures these vehicle graphics, so I'm guessing the advertising was part of the deal when they had the patio put in. Still, disconcerting, to say the least!

weekend update

It's the last weekend before school starts and life gets hectic again, so we tried to take advantage of it. Friday night, Mike and I spent some time out on the patio just hanging out (which we rarely do, so it was really nice) and watching the birds. We got some good hummingbird shots, but even without the camera, it was fun just to watch them flit around from the pigweed and milkweed in the pasture up to the feeder and back.

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Potawatomi Wildlife Park, which is only about 20 minutes away in Tippecanoe, but somehow we had never been there before. We were hoping for a good sunrise and some bird sightings, but instead we got a creepy walk in the fog. And since I never mind a creepy walk in the fog, I had a good morning. It felt great just to be outside doing something I like, even if the only bird picture we ended up with was a sparrow. (We did see and hear a lot of birds; they were just too quick for us!)

Then this morning, the grand finale: We decided to take the dogs to the dog beach. We first drove to Grand Mere State Park, only to discover that the dog beach is completely gone as a result of erosion. The water just goes right up to the small cliffs. That's been a huge problem the past couple years on the Lake Michigan shore, so we weren't surprised, but it was still sad to see. We had a backup plan, though, so we took the dogs to Warren Dunes State Park, which also has a dog beach. It's a much bigger and more popular beach, so there was still plenty of sand, but there were so many people, so the dogs had a hard time relaxing and enjoying themselves. We thought at least one of them (probably Pluto since he's a Lab) would enjoy being in the water with the boys, but we were wrong. So mostly they just spent their time getting wet and sandy and barking at everyone who dared step on the beach. Fun times. Oh well, now we know. The water was really cold, but the boys still had plenty of fun until the dogs made it known that they would like to go home right now please and thank you.

birds of july

We're mostly seeing hummingbirds and sparrow (a LOT of both), but there have been some interesting other visitors this month too.

northern flicker

downy woodpecker

female ruby-throated hummingbird

house wren, singing for us

a murder of crows

the champ

Liam won the final match today to become the Plymouth city league 15U champion. This is his third time winning in the past five years (and at least one of the years he didn't win, he didn't do city league at all because the courts were under construction). Here's our champ five years ago and today (funny how small the trophy looks now), and with his biggest tiny fan. Great job, Liam!

the octo-pod

Henry has long outgrown his stuffed animals, but he couldn't bear to be parted from his favorites, the octopuses. Today I got a brilliant (?) idea and mounted them all to his wall. They look pretty cool in the daytime, but let's wait and see what he thinks the first time he wakes up in the middle of the night and sees them looming over him in the shadows.

rainbows for days

It's been so hot! But late afternoon showers have give us some pretty spectacular views out back two days in a row. The cloud top on the second one was even more amazing in person.

farm fresh

Our little farm (shut it, we've got a barn! with stalls! and a pasture!) is finally starting to produce! Behold the first foodstuff we have grown here:

Henry reports that it was sweet, but the experience was over too soon. Such is life, kid. Such is life.

sunsets and rain

Friends, is it too early for the dog days of summer? I've been nose to the grindstone for weeks now. Summer tennis has been moving along, and Liam and Henry are just about at the end of their respective summer league seasons. Max has been mostly just bumming around the house. Mike's been busy outdoors, and I'm just, you know, holding it all together. I do sometimes get a chance to check out what's happening outside, though, and the past 12 hours have given me a show to watch. It's hard to complain when that's happening outside your window.

quick visit

Mike took the boys to Naperville today to visit with Barb and Kevin and the cousins (I stayed home to work). Erin sent me a couple of pictures, though. That picture of Liam and Lucy will probably never not make me laugh.

liam at fifteen

What a difference a year makes! Take a look at our boy last year and this year, in the same setting, with one of the same friends:

You can see it too, right? Last year he was a big gangly boy, and this year it's becoming more clear by the day what he will look like as a man. It's not just his height that I'm talking about here. The way he carries himself, his voice, his comfort with himself — they've all changed drastically in the past year. It's really an amazing process to watch from this vantage point.

At fifteen, our Liam is best described as capable. I don't mean that in a mediocre sense, as in he's "merely" capable of things; I mean it in the sense that he can do anything he sets his mind to. His freshman year of high school has come and gone, and he shows no signs of the small traumas and huge dramas that most of us remember from that period. He had an amazingly successful first year of speech, making it all the way to the state competition. He has balanced a full slate of tough classes with tennis, speech, Interact (a community service club), improv, and a whole lot of other things that I'm probably forgetting about. He has a solid group of friends who support each other as much as they tease each other (like all good families should). He's smart, and he's strong, and he treats other people (with the occasional exception of his brothers) with dignity and humor.

One thing he doesn't have much of, though, is patience. What a shock, right? He is easily frustrated with his brothers, and don't get me started on how easily he gets offended by his parents. But at the same time, he is extremely patient with his younger cousins, letting them climb all over him, taking them for piggyback rides, and keeping them entertained while modeling for them how they can be when they get older. He's also perfectly happy to spend whole days helping my mom around her house, getting chores done that aren't easy for her ... and making brownies together afterward to celebrate the day's accomplishments. So I guess maybe he's just saving his patience for them.

Liam spent the day yesterday with his friends at Sky Zone, running and jumping and generally wearing themselves out. Then we came home, and they played Dungeons & Dragons late into the night, then they got up early this morning to play some more. It's exactly what he wanted for his special day, and I'm so glad we can still make his dreams come true for a little while longer. Very soon, those dreams are going to get much, much bigger, and he will be the architect of making them come true for himself. He's well on his way, and we couldn't be prouder.

Happy birthday, Liam! Now let's get you signed up for driver's ed. 

birds of june

We're still riding the tail end of the spring migration, and getting ready to hit the summer breeding/nesting season.

male goldfinch

house finches

bust of a red-bellied woodpecker

female red-winged blackbird

male cardinal

male rose-breasted grosbeak

female ruby-throated hummingbird