365*, Week 10 Swinging

Today was a beautiful day! Noah was swinging in the backyard with a neighborhood friend, and I went outside to snap some photos.

For some reason, the kids enjoy swinging while standing on a board. I tried lots of angles trying to get a good shot. I think my favorites are the ones taken from up above.

Watching them play brought back memories of when I used to play with Sandy, the little boy next door. It's sad when you get a little older and it's not as simple to play with members of the opposite gender.

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

365, Week 9 - Noah's Haircut

We had a momentous occasion for photos last weekend when Noah got his first haircut in several months. He really likes to wear his hair long, and we have indulged him for the most part. However, he had some very bad behavior while Dad was out of town - calling his mother a stupid idiot repeatedly was the milder of his offenses - and he knew he had some serious punishment coming when Dad got home.

So among other things, he received a haircut against his wishes. I will say that he took it fairly well - he knew it could have been far worse. Funny thing is, the rebellion seems to have gone away with the hair.

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

365, Week 8 Our Old House

Well, I finally reached my limit. Not my own personal limit - I reached that long ago - but I reached the limit for how many photos I could put on my blog without paying for more space! I ran into a few glitches when trying to add the space, so it put me a little behind with my blog posts.

Here are some photos I took a few weeks ago when Terry, Rebecca and I went to visit our old house that has been added onto numerous times since we sold it eleven years ago and is now on the market. This house was originally built by Terry's grandparents as a "lake house," and it remained pretty much the same from 1960-1994, when Terry and I first built an addition on the back.

You can see that it was a pretty humble house:



But what you can't see in this picture is the beautiful lake view behind the house. And after we added on, it looked like this from the lake side:




We had lots of great times in this house. It was a great house for entertaining even though it was quite small, and we had 30 or more college students meeting at our house every weekend.

Here's what the house looks like now. It's hard to appreciate the difference if you were never in the old house. The new version has an additional fireplace, an additional two bedrooms, an additional bath, etc. In fact, it is almost double the size as it was before. The kitchen had blue linoleum countertops and plaid wallpaper before. Now it's modern with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. There certainly was no spiral staircase when we lived there, but now it's got one that goes down to a "man cave."














But the basement and the waterfront hadn't changed much.









It was a very strange feeling looking around a place that had so many memories yet was so different. Terry and I both said that we would buy it back now if we could. I'd also love to buy back those sweet years when my children were little.

365, 43-49 Main Street, USA

One of my favorite things about this area is historic Jonesborough, Tennessee. It's about a 20 minute drive from our front door to Main Street! I get to go there lots these days as Caleb is practicing for "High School Musical" at Jonesborough Repertory Theatre.




These pictures were all taken Saturday afternoon on Main Street.

First of all, the Courthouse, where I recently was sworn in as a notary public and where I go to pay for our car licenses and property taxes (and though I hate to pay property taxes, I think it's kind of interesting that our county clerk's name is Jack Daniels):



Next up, the Historic the 1797 Chester Inn, the oldest still standing inn in Tennessee, which housed presidents traveling through the Appalachian Mountains on the Great Stage Road, including Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk.



Here is a log cabin (right on Main Street) that Andrew Jackson himself used to live in when he practiced law:



And here is the "Parson's Table" where Terry and I had our first date over 21 years ago:



And here are some more of my favorites from Main Street (including yet another "Senior Photo" shot of Rebecca):

365, 36-42 Senior Photos Part 2

Rebecca and I were in downtown Bristol this past week, so I took the opportunity to take some more photos of her. I was going to try for some urban alleyway shots ,which really doesn't fit her personality, but I wanted to give it a try. Instead the old train station caught my eye,and thought it would be a neat backdrop. I loved all the architectural elements with the big doors and the railings.

Here again, I can't really make up my mind between the black and white and the color photos. I think I like the B&W better.