Picture this

One of my favorite ways to spend downtime is to putz around with my camera taking pictures. It's a little bulky so it doesn't go with me as many places as I might like but from time to time I get into a picture-taking groove and catch some of the world around me on my memory card in JPG form. I had about two weeks during the past month where I had my camera with me more than usual. Here's some of what I came across and tells some of my story for the past few weeks...


This is my office desk. It's usually a little less cluttered than this. I was waiting for something to print downstairs for a Mentor Training session which took place the following morning. The picture I didn't get was the bird's-eye view of the parking lot turning white from the hail storm that evening.

This is what it looks like from the corner where I usually catch the bus. It's a little more than two blocks from our house. That's downtown at the bottom of the hill.

This is the "before" picture of the Children's Community Garden that Laura is tackling this year. There was a clean-up workday last week and there will be another one next week. I'm looking forward to when we can put up an "after" picture (or even an "in progress" one) to show how great this place is looking/will look.

I had wanted to take some pictures of the spring bulb flowers that were up during the morning hours but between the Mentor Training thingy and church, it didn't happen until Sunday afternoon. I ended up at the Hauck Botanic Garden where the Civic Garden Center is over in Avondale. While wandering through looking for the flowers that had weathered or bloomed since the hail storm on Friday, I found a couple of fun knick-knacks. Having grown up in an area steeped in Civil War history and whatnot, plaques like these show up in lots of places back in Virginia. They usually don't say this, though.

Here's another fun find. Cincinnati is know for its history with pigs, having been at one time the world's largest pork processing hub... or something like that. The big marathon in town is even called the Flying Pig Marathon. This pretty little porker here is called "Topigary". Statues like this can be found all over the city.

There were a fair number of flowers at Hauck, too. Here are some snowdrops that survived the hail from a few days before.

I think this one is a helleborous or something like that. I haven't come across these very often before so if you know better, leave a comment and educate us.

Ah, crocuses getting ready to bloom. I'm glad they exist.

This is another one that I'm not really familiar with. I wish I'd posted a pic of the yellow flower I didn't know so maybe somebody could help me with that one, too. Drat.

We had our mid-year retreat a few weeks ago. I was really looking forward to it and it didn't disappoint me at all. The entire house came back much more rested and relaxed, I think. It also seemed to help ease some of the tension levels in the house, too. I think it probably helped that Daylight Savings gave us an extra hour of sun in the evenings about that time as well as Old Man Winter finally retiring more or less for the year. We took the Megabus from Cincy to Chicago (with a 1:25AM departure time) and then the METRA train to Elgin so we could hang out at the CoB national offices. We waited there for everybody else who would be joining us for the retreat. While we were waiting we managed to find ways to keep ourselves entertained. Doesn't Laura make such a lovely little person BVSer?

Once people began to arrive we all caught up with folks from our orientation units and a few other old friends who happened to be in Elgin (mostly because they work there).

Anne has an uncanny knack for being able to look directly at a camera whenever somebody is taking a picture no matter how far away they are, how much they zoom in, or how sneaky they try to be.

One of the reasons I love mid-year retreat so much is because it offers something for everyone, no matter what they need to relax and recharge. There were things to do for those who wanted to be active...

...and a little less active.

You could start your day off curled up with a good book (awake or asleep)...

...or wind down at the end of the day.

You could spend your free time alone...

...or with a bunch of other BVSers who love playing group games. Yay for retreat. A+ and gold stars to everybody who helped plan it (except for maybe the ucky camp food).

We stayed an extra night before heading back to Cincy. My accommodations were at the BVS house in Elgin where I got to hang out with Jon, Don, Dana, and Steve. We swapped stories and discussed some of the finer points of communal living. Ahh, good company.

Back in Cincy spring weather had finally arrived. Naturally, we decided that we should now have our weekly house meeting on the roof whenever possible. Sure, why not?

Laura decided to get all gussied up one evening. She curled her hair, put on make-up, the whole nine yards. She cleans up real good. Better yet, she can even do it while planning Sunday School with Anne at 9:00 at night. How's that for some stellar multi-tasking?

The magnolias in Eden Park were reportedly (courtesy of Laura) quite beautiful. I wanted to get to see them while they were looking all beautiful and such so I headed out last Sunday evening even though it was sprinkling a little bit. This is down at the Twin Lakes.

This Star Magnolia with a small entourage of daffodils at sunset was even better looking than the picture allows, believe it or not.

I was having fun with the super macro zoom on my camera.

There seem to be a lot of places in Eden Park where somebody planted lots of daffodils on the hillsides. This is one of those places.

I finally got to the Magnolia Garden around dusk. It still looks purdy to me.

This is a shot of downtown from Mt. Adams near the Art Museum.

I was trying to be artsy with this one. This is a bug's-eye view of the bridge on Ida Street. It's a good thing Mt. Adams rarely has much traffic.

There were a lot of other pictures that I would've liked to have gotten during the past month. They didn't make it onto my camera but still exist in my head so I'll try to paint them with words.

The first one is of my old room, as in the one upstairs. Laura moved into it on Monday and I live in the basement now. She has the double bed set diagonally from the corner on the right when you walk into the room. Her desk/table is directly ahead with her persevering computer on it by the window looking out to the backyard. The door that leads to the back porch is wide open, letting in as much sun and air as possible. Laura is sitting in her chair going through seed packets, deciding what will go where in which garden.

The next picture is of Lovefeast this past Thursday. There are two candle-lit tables set with the women at one and the men at the other. The electric piano has been carried downstairs and Saundra is playing hymns and familiar songs while we wash each others' feet. There are about twenty of us assembled. Some of us know all the words; some of us barely know any. One or two just listen. As far as gender and age go, this is probably the least lopsided Lovefeast I've ever attended.

The last picture is from tonight. Anne's parents are in town visiting and we're all over at Pastor Ben's for supper. The kids and the neighbor's kids are all running around the yard with the dog. Kristen has cooked what is quite possibly Katie's favorite meal ever: grilled mango salmon, asparagus, salad, and ice cream with strawberries and chocolate for dessert. There's also grilled chicken but I don't think Katie has noticed. Those of us not running amuck are gathered at the patio furniture, half of which was still in a box a few hours earlier. Anne seems very happy that her parents are here and they're enjoying themselves outside in the warm evening air. Our entire house is together and genuinely happy. The hours feel like they have stretched well beyond their allotted sixty minutes but nobody's trying to reign them in. I wish you could have seen it, felt it, experienced it.

I wonder who will be in these pictures next year...