An Afternoon with My Valentine

To celebrate Valentine's Day last weekend, Brett and I went on an afternoon excursion, just happy to spend quiet time together. I took my camera along to capture a few images.

Rohan or Spokane?

First stop was Arbor Crest Winery, which sits atop a rocky bluff more than 400 feet above the Spokane River. There is a geocache located on the grounds of the winery, which is also used for weddings and other social events. It is an unexpectedly beautiful little spot.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get too close to the actual cache coordinate since part of the site is blocked off. Two months ago the beautiful Cliff House mansion that functions as Arbor Crest's tasting room was severely damaged in a fire. You can see some of the missing fascia and the boarded windows in the picture below. Very sad.


The good news is that they are restoring Cliff House, which is a Spokane landmark. Fortunately, while the mansion suffered extensive damage, much of the remaining grounds were untouched.

They've done a wonderful job of landscaping these grounds. Everywhere you look there is something beautiful to see. These light fixtures have a gorgeous patina and look amazing against the stone and vines.



As you look through the walls of this gazebo, you can see some of the grape arbors. As beautiful as the view is now, I can only imagine what this place will look like in a few months with the green grass, blooming flowers and the grapes hanging heavily on the vines.


My two favorite pictures of the entire trip: a detail of that light fixture and a nice shot of Brett.

(My analytical, literal-brained son's comment on seeing this picture: "You missed a lot of the light fixture." Too funny. The poor boy is severely art challenged.)



We also stopped for a few minutes to look at Upriver Dam along the Spokane River. Dams aren't supposed to be scenic, but there is something about the background, watery reflection and geometry of this one that is oddly attractive.

It was good experience to try to capture that satisfying quality on film. It isn't easy to do and I don't think I got it right here. But, it is a start.

For me the real payoff of taking pictures is when you are able to capture that fleeting quality of whatever sort that has made an impression on you. Right now I take hundreds of pictures before I get one (probably by accident) that I sort of like. I'll probably never be a good photographer, but I am finding great joy in trying to preserve those moments of beauty or symmetry that I find around me.

The Privileges of Being the Baby

How to Win a Girl's Heart

Our neighbor children Katie (6) and Garrett (2) were over playing today. I overheard the following comment from Katie, who was apparently refereeing a conflict over our big spring horse.

"Garrett, if you want to marry Natalie someday, you need to let her have a turn on the horse."

See? It's as simple as that!

Saturday

Even though it was cold, we went outside and played this weekend because we just had to get out of the house. The kids had lots of fun and let me take some pictures. They were (mostly) very patient with me.

How quickly they grow up. She looks like a teenager, even if she isn't quite there.


I couldn't put this picture in black and white because you lose the color of Max's eyes, which frequently vary from blue to green to grey.


I am so grateful for Elise's big brown eyes and her sweet smile.


Speaking of eyes . . . . and cold cheeks.


All the kids' cheeks were rosy in the cold, but by the time we went in Natalie had a little cherry nose to match. Even then, she didn't want to come inside. She just wanted to haul this big ball around, all over the yard.


It has taken Cameron a long time to learn to peddle a bike. But, now that he's getting the hang of it, he's hooked. Even after a little spill, a kiss and a band-aid, he wasn't ready to quit. He was very proud of himself.


Cameron would follow Camille anywhere, especially when on wheels.


Brett gave Elise some casting lessons with her girly-girl pink fishing pole. Elise! Where is your coat!?!



Natalie was anxious to use the bat, so Camille pitched to her. In this case, 'pitched' means threw the ball at Natalie's stationary bat. When the ball bounced off her bat, Natalie called out in her little voice "I did it! I did it!"

Natalie's World

As I was walking down the stairs this morning, Natalie hopped off the ottoman and came in my direction. Instead of her usual bouncy little run, she took a step with one leg and then, with a clinky-clanky sort of rattle, drug the other leg behind her. I was initially startled, but quickly looked up to met Brett's twinkling eyes and big grin.

"She put the rocks in her sleeper, didn't she!"

"Yep." responded a very amused Brett, who had thoughtfully left things as they were so I could appreciate the humor of my two year old dragging her too heavy and very noisy leg behind her.

Natalie has this thing about putting objects down the neck of her sleeper. She LOVES doing it. Inevitably, they slip their way down into the legs of her pajamas where the collect until a parent intervenes. We never know what we're going to find in there when we go to put her in bed, change a diaper or get her dressed in the morning.

Once we found about 20 pieces of plastic toy food in each leg. Sometimes it is pens or pencils. Occasionally it is even crackers or a piece of apple (her version of provident living, perhaps?).

This morning it happened to be the cobalt blue decorative rocks that she and Cameron love so much.


It is fascinating to live with a two year-old. They find such joy in simple things. With my first two kids I probably would have gathered the rocks up and put them away so it couldn't happen again. I was much more concerned about the mess and 'teaching' them to not do what two year-olds do by nature.

Now I just love to watch Natalie discover her world.

What is she going to do with it?

Will she be surprised?

Will it delight her?


Don't get me wrong. I don't enjoy flour on the kitchen floor or toilet paper rolls unwound all over the bathroom floor. And some things, like toothbrushes flushed down the toilet aren't amusing at all . . . at least until the toilet is working again. But I don't get as uptight about this kind of stuff as I used to.

I guess I just appreciate now more than before how fleeting time is.

Messes can be cleaned up.

She won't always appreciate the random joys of a Santa hat.


Or of exploring the delights of binoculars in the buff.


It won't take her long to figure out that eating an ice cream cone from the bottom has its drawbacks.


And she definitely won't always appreciate the fascination of feeling a pretty, smooth rock slide down her body until it plops into the leg of her pajamas.

And that is exactly why it is such a delight to be able to share her world.