G the Shutterbug-photo contest winner!!

Was reading the local paper about 2 weeks ago, and saw the following:
The City of Edina has extended the deadline for entries in its annual “Images of Edina” photo contest. Community members who live or work in Edina are invited to share images they have taken since June 2006. Photos are judged on subject matter, composition, clarity, depth of field, lighting, quality of color or black and white, artistry and drama, degree of difficulty, Edina relevance and overall impact.

And G. had taken a beautiful photo of a swallowtail butterfly one summer day last summer. I thought -- why not? So we entered it.

So today, we got a letter from the City of Edina, telling us that "G the Shutterbug" won the Judge's Choice Award, and G will receive a plaque at the upcoming City Council meeting. Then they will announce the overall photo contest winner, who will be one of the 5 category winners.

Here's the photo. My friend Kate wrote about it in her blog, and I sent that along with the photo submission. (I didn't realize that you need to name the photo, but then since they had the blog post, they used her blog title for the name of the photo). And, sorry lest I sound too overly proud -- "Judge's Choice" was not one of the original contest categories, so I'm just speculating here, but thinking that they were enamored with the photo and made a new the category for the award!

New Site.

This is a site my daughter "made a boutique" on. Its pretty cool. Check it out.

Boutique

Lemonade Stand

Last weekend the girls had a lemonade stand. They did pretty well profit-wise, too! I did have to run back and forth a couple times to replenish lemonade and ice.

Wonderful Falls and Other Things.

Out on Shovel's Point



















Looking down from the cliff!

Perfect Summer Day

The perfect summer day:
- Wake up, read for a little while (Sue Grafton S Is for Silence), with coffee.
- Go to the pool, have fun and get a bit sunburned. Read and finish novel.
- Do a few chores around the house, do a couple errands.
- Have a delicious taco salad dinner with fresh fruit and family/friends.
- Go to the park, pitch to daughter #2, chat and play at park.
- Have Italian Ice for dessert.
- Play with sparklers (little ones and bigger ones) in the dark.

Yes!!
:)

Old Faithful

When we moved in almost 7 years ago, the garden was tired and not really touched at all, as the owner, a widow, lived in a nursing home at the time that she sold the house. One highlight was this beautiful rich purple clematis, that was growing up and tumbling over the side of a non-working gas lamp.

Once I got a new trellis, the clematis really thrived, and blesses us with bountiful blooms in June & July. This plant has to be 15-20 years old, yet is still healthy!

Hmmm...maybe I need a bigger trellis...

Softball Fun!

Fun game the other night! Actually it was AB's bday, and we ran out to a neighboring town for a double-header, yet we only stayed for the first game, so that we could all celebrate together as a family.

G had a "grill" (made from a pile of rocks) and "made" bbq hamburgers and all the fixins!

Beautiful day!!

Oh, and the team won in the last inning, go Cubs!!