81/365: The Daffodil

March 31st

80/365

David had knee surgery today.

Everything went okay, the meniscus was apparently torn much much more than what the MRI was showing originally, but they managed to get it all neatly cut.

Now it's just a matter of David staying home and following doc's instructions :)

79/365: Dogwood

78/365

Pansies seem to have experienced a revival with all the rain and sun, they were looking quite dead just a week ago.

77/365

Today was Springtime Tallahassee's big event, all of downtown was turned int a pedestrian zone for the parade, concerts, kids activities and the artist avenue in Bloxham Park on Park Avenue.

The artists are regulars every Saturday as part of Market Days, and one of the regulars are the gals from Campfire Creations (also known as my mother-in-law & sister-in-law :)

They make glass bead jewelry with all the beads being done by hand using a torch and burned in a kiln afterwards. My favorite part of their work are the pendants that they call "Serendipitous Art" because you don't know what kind of shapes the glass will create until you pull it out of the kiln.

In the picture you see Dana (sister-in-law) doing a demonstration with the torch on how they create the beads. The crowd was unbelievable, I couldn't really get good shots because of the amount of people; the picture in the right corner of Sherrie (mother-in-law) was the best one I got under the circumstances.

You can read more at campfirecreations.org

76/365

We passed by these building so many times already but I never really paid attention to the combination of old & modern architecture with the church in between.

For some reason, this Friday I really stopped to notice it. It didn't really translate well into a photo, the image in my head.

75/365

I'm intrigued by the blurbs for the bottom two titles, I think I want to read them :)

74/365

Today was apparently "Chalk Walk".

The students occupied a very small area, maybe 20 "chalk paintings" in all, but each was individual and interesting.

It doesn't look like they have a website, it's a pretty small event happening as a part of The Heritage Week in Florida.

I really hope it continues and grows.

73/365

Word of the day: con ~ sis ~ ten ~ cy

... as in: consistency in discipline in order the remove the motivation behind lying and hiding things when it comes to Jack, homework and tests...

Went to the shrink today :)

72/365

These babies are why I don't have a better picture for today. I drained the batteries while making family movies over the weekend and I never remembered to replace them.

I saw a great shot during our lunch walk and realized I cannot take it because my batteries were completely dead.

71/365

The first of the seedlings are out :)

70/365

The detail on the Kleiman Plaza fountain, the water seems to add some freshness to it.

69/365

Now that Legislature is in session there is something happening at the Capitol every day.

Basically, everyone's trying to show how they're spending their budgets wisely and trying to squeeze a little bit more money into those same budgets.

Today, it was the Florida Sheriffs Association with lots of typical law enforcement (macho) stuff, vehicles mostly.

But...

there were also these beauties. One of the counties had two of the sheriffs come on horseback.

68/365

I noticed this little guy on a window frame this evening.

The variety of moths in these parts really amazes me, not just in terms of color but size as well. You cannot really tell but this guy is only about an inch long, but I have also seen some moths as big as a grown man's palm.

I'm proud of my camera, this was taken with the camera in super macro mode since I have yet to have enough spare money to pick a good macro lens.
Ok, now I'm off to help Jack with his speech.

67/365

Can you tell I'm excited about Spring? :)

66/365

Another project from this weekend... last year I put the seeds directly into the ground thinking: "This is Florida! It doesn't freeze enough to hurt them!" Yeah, right! I learned my lesson the hard way, this year I put the seeds into the tiny biodegradable containers first and even built a small greenhouse for them.

The only reason they look dry is because I took the photo before watering them but I'm taking good care of them, promise! :)

Some of the seedlings to be are: Zinnias, Dahlias, Red Basil, Catnip, Echinacea, Forget Me Nots, Poppies...

65/365

Spent a beautiful day today adding some color to the garden

64/365

Dear bed,

I am so glad you finally arrived.

I was a little worried at first because you didn't look so good; all boxy and covered in that plastic stuff.

Thanks to dad and Jack you now look much better, all comfy and spacious. After some testing, I decided you are a very bouncy... that's good because it helps with jumping.

Medo and Bunny agree with me. They like that there is a lot of space so we can all snuggle up for a story at bedtime.

I' m happy you're here dear bed. Looking forward to all the bouncy fun,

Mika

63/365

My dearest crib,

we had spent such lovely times together. You were warm and cozy in the long nights and never complained when I jumped on you with all the glee I could muster.

My stuffed friends really liked you too because you always found room for all of them. I loved climbing on you and drawing; until mama took my crayons.

You were a true friend dear crib but I'm getting bigger now so I need more room for jumping and rolling and just having fun with Medo & Bunny. I will ask mama and daddy to give you away to a good baby that will love you as much as I did.

Love you, Mika

62/365

Grocery shopping today, not terribly interesting I know :)

These little cheeses are kids' favorite, they go through them like crazy...

61/365

The looney vans are out, I can only conclude it is because the legislature is in session. We have seen several of them driving around the Capitol area these past few days.

As I took these photos I was thinking about the "liberty for all" part that people seem to spout often. What does it mean? I like to think it is freedom for all people to think, worship and live their lives according to their own convictions; as long as those convictions aren't hurting or endangering others.

Liberty of person and spirit is also about choice, you cannot have liberty for all if you are trying to force everyone to think the way you do. Free society is usually achieved at a great cost exactly because it requires people to give up desire to control everyone else.

A society cannot be free and have everyone thinking the same...

And yes, that would include these irrational, deluded people who tend to hide behind religion. I say hide behind religion because you cannot choose to only be ethical and moral when it suits your purposes... you cannot only use the tidbits of religious scripture that support your views and completely ignore the enormuous parts of it that don't.

It doesn't work that way, you cannot say abortion is murder and therefore wrong only to turn around and kill the person that doesn't agree with you, commit murder yourself.

It is very easy to dismiss people like these , say they are the irrational minority and not a threat to the free society. What scares me is that this particular section of society doesn't seem to be satisfied with just expressing their views in a non-violent way, indeed they are prepared to kill.

To try and "netralize" them, force them to change their views would be acting in the same irrational way they are... but, how do we protect our children from the violence? ... violence of thought, violence of spirit, violence that endagers their very right to freedom... the same freedom that allowed this hard right to form and grow...

On a lighter note, spring is really coming in full force. I couldn't resist to take the photo below:

60/365

The sculpture in the Doug Burnette Park on Gaines Street, I'm not actually sure I would qualify this as a "park" but it is a nice little area to sit down and relax.... I didn't have time to find out more about the sculpture but I know it is a very recent addition, in fact the area itself seems to have sprung out of nowhere within the last year or so.

59/365

The dreaded FCAT day *insert thunderous noises*

This is technically a photo for yesterday, Monday... I made these bars last night as part of Jack's breakfast for today. I try to make sure his breakfast before the FCAT days is a little bit special, hence the bars.... and plus they have coffee in them which tends to calm him down :)

58/365

The last pieces of Christmas, the candy canes that where on the Christmas tree.... I know the top photo is out of focus and all that but I absolutely love it.... it feel so vibrant, the way the light bounces off of them.

57/365

I know the grass doesn't look like the spring is here, but life is slowly coming back...

56/365

The Capitol building

55/365

Very self- explanatory. I enjoyed the colors, like a ray of bright light in a very gloomy time...

I'm sorry for the recent lack of photos, there has been a lot of drama in our home in the last week.

I thought yesterday would be the day when I would pick up "365" again but my state of mind was just not right for it. Hopefully, this weekend will bring some peace with all of us being home and together, I suppose only time will tell.