Hello and Good-Bye

Before we get too far away from Mother's Day....

Lucky me, I got to start the day with Nicholas because he was with me for a Saturday overnight. We awakened to a glorious, sunny day on Sunday and he asked, "G'ma, can we go out into the woods?"

You don't have to ask me twice! As I see him sitting in this new fallen tree (the old one was cut down), I see how much he has grown since our early days traipsing around. The traditions remain, like taking the blanket for lying down to just listen to the sounds...and sharing apple slices for our snack.

These are eternalized moments for me. As we were meandering around and exploring, looking for wild berries and burls, it dawned on me that this could very well be our last outing in the woods here. The house has not yet sold but it could be any day now.

So we talked about how special this place has been over the years and how many friends we have made. We never needed to name the trees (as my mom used to do at the family cottage). We just called them Friends.

What I will never forget more than anything is how Nicholas would find the tiniest of treasures and say "G'ma, take a picture of this!" It's like he, too, wanted to "eternalize" the moment.



It did come time to say Good-Bye. And we did. Funny thing is we weren't even that sad. We both just took it in stride and said "Thank You, Trees. Thank you, Friends."

Nicholas will be 9 in July. I'll be 64 in June. No matter what age, we criss-cross paths of comings and goings, of Hellos and Good-Byes. Passages of time. Moments of moving on.

And that particular moment we DID move on...to Amy's house to celebrate a fabulous day of "eternalized moments" with the larger family. Dennis had just arrived from LA on Friday to STAY...a one-way ticket! Before they celebrate their one-year anniversary on June 1, he is now here to live! Mark was with us, too, for cards and an incredible dinner cooked by Dennis and Nicholas. It was quite a memorable Mother's Day for me.

No sooner do we say Good-Bye to some friends, we get to say Hello to others. Good-Bye, woods. Welcome to Atlanta, Dennis. And Happy Mother's Day! I hope YOU had a great day, too.

Again and Again!

Remember when it rains, it pours? Again and again!

On Saturday we had a lovely lunch nearby the apartment with James and his partner, Matt. I still can't believe that we're within easy walking distance of each other. Since it wasn't my first time to see them, I didn't take any more pics. But yes, we had a lovely time together and I wanted you to know.

Yesterday WAS a new blogger (like Ade), from my photoblog: Petra (pronounced PAY-tra, different from what we both thought, Judy!). And here we are after first meeting each other at the art market at the Spui square near the City Center of Amsterdam. (Here's her pic for today.)

From the art market, we decided to go rent bikes and ride out to North Amsterdam away from the canals, across the bay behind Centraal Station. A 5-minute, free ferry ride took us across the Ij bay to a lovely, non-conjested area north of the city. Because we were riding bikes and yakkity-yakking the whole time (2 Gemini!), I didn't take many pics. I told her and Donica that I will definitely go back again on my own when I can stop any time I want and take as many pics as I want!

What a beautiful lady! Yes, another redhead (by choice, though--ha!). We talked on my phone to Donica, my chance to take pics of her. At the end of the day, Donica met us back at the Spui where we had a coffee, with Donica and Petra meeting each other. At 5p, we said our Good-Byes, just as it started to rain.

You know these are times I cherish! I feel so very lucky...and grateful! I AM!