Wilderness food

We had the opportunity to spend a week camping with my parents recently.  For those following along, you may recall the little run down I had with a certain sunset.  The pictures below are some I took at a more leisurely pace another day.  

Our compound

Every night after supper, we would get back together at our trailer to play cards.  I am nothing if not the perfect hostess, so naturally refreshments were served.  A couple of random choices from the refrigerator resulted in a delicious new snack combo that we enjoyed almost every night.

Cold, juicy grapes so crisp they snap in your teeth like twigs.
Chilled caramel-filled chocolate cups.

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The other day I scored another delicious batch of grapes, and  in a moment of panic discovered these little fun-sized candy bars are a pretty good substitute for the chocolate cups.

Give this sweet, tart, juicy, cold treat a try and let me know how you like it.

Baby feet, Baby seats

We were blessed with a whole week of this deliciousness:

Happy squeals of delight every morning.

Lots of smiles.  Just enough crying and fretting to know there was a baby in the house.

Sweet feet.

And of course, we thoroughly enjoyed having this little man's mama around!  For more fun from the visit see here and here. 

Along with babies comes a lot of gear.  

We have accumulated some of the standard pieces that stay at our house.  

Then Logan arrives with some of his own.  Add to that a musical chair switch of car seats. 

I looked around one morning last week and became aware of baby gear tucked in every corner of the kitchen/nook/hall and couldn't resist pulling it all together.

We were all amazed at the massive collection.

Before it was all stashed  relocated, we had a little fun.  

Thanks Brooklyn for being a good sport.

Since Brooklyn is the only girl (so far) in the male dominant grandchild brood, we have to make the most of what we have!

Make-believe come to life

If you had a dollhouse when you were a kid raise your hand.  See my hand waving in the air? I loved my dollhouse and haven't seen it for many years, but thanks to the internet I found a picture of one just like mine:

Wow, it takes me back.

My dollhouse was outfitted with furniture just like this:

Hours of fun, I tell you.  Wonder what happened to it?

Fast forward 20 years.....

Carrying it on the next generation, Bobby and I built one just like this one from a kit  for Amy for Christmas when she was about 9 years old.  It took much longer than it should have because we had to work on it at night and hide it during the day.  We finished it in time, though!

We even made some of the furniture.  I recall a little velvet bed and some carved chairs.  Then there were some odd pieces we came up with, like a miniature porcelain grand piano.  That dollhouse saw a lot of action with both girls.  I think it is packed away in a huge box in the attic.  Maybe Brooklyn will enjoy it one day.

All this nostalgia brings me around to my original intent for this post:  a website I ran across the other day with this awesome life-size dollhouse!

source

Seems the artist Heather Benning has a fascination with dollhouses too.

You must go here or here to read more about it and see more pictures.

I am completely smitten with it!

I could go on and on about how absolutely awesome I think it is, or just let the pictures say it all.

Chasing the sunset

or,

Why I need a zoom lens

While out camping this week Bobby pointed to the west and gestured for me to grab my camera.

The sun was a blazing red ball of fire falling through the trees.

As I headed toward the bank of the lake for a clear shot, the sun raced me.

 The closer I got to the clearing, the faster it sank.

The buttery ball was disappearing before my eyes.

I never got the 'money shot'.

I breathlessly stopped my pursuit as it slipped from view. 

I will be after you again, Mr Sun.  Me and my zoom lens!