holiday | Change Is Hard

April 1, 2016
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

It’s cherry festival time!

Close up and personal.

No, not in Michigan, that’s still a few months away. But down in DC? Well, it’s prime cherry blossom viewing down there! And I was lucky enough to have a meeting scheduled there, so in between commitments I went up to Capitol Hill and became a tourist.

It was glorious.

I’d never been in DC during cherry blossom time, so I didn’t know what to expect. I flew in on Easter afternoon, changed into running clothes and figured I’d jog a bit on the Mall, take a few pictures of cherry blossoms, just enjoy some alone time.

Pretty in pink.

I was so naive! When I came up out of the metro (subway) and made it over to the mall I was confronted with a few hundred gazillion tourists, all strolling along. It was like being at the start of a race, when you’re all jammed together and walking (slowly) toward the start line. Except there was never any start line…the crowd just kept meandering along.

Not going to be running here.

So, no running on the Mall that afternoon! What was I thinking? But the cherry blossoms were stunning! The trees glowed under their own power without benefit of the sun.

Crowds enjoy the blossoms.

I moved with the crowd from the Washington Monument where white cherry trees provided a heavenly canopy for people picnicking….

My favorite image from Easter afternoon.

…toward the Jefferson Monument on the tidal basin, surrounded by white and pink trees.

Jefferson Monument surrounded by beauty.

The water was filled with people in paddle boats having fun. The shore was crowded with people taking pictures of people in paddle boats, pictures of trees, pictures of blossoms, pictures of each other, pictures of Jefferson’s monument.

There were long lines to rent the boats.

It was so much fun, even though I was cold. I had dressed to be running and I was decidedly not running. But I didn’t care. It was so just much fun! Eventually I got all the way over to the Jefferson Monument….

Headed up the steps.

…and noticed how pretty the Washington Monument was, across the basin, ringed with cherry trees.

Washington watches over the crowds.

The short trek between the two had taken over an hour, and it was getting dark, so I took some side streets back to the metro. I even ran a few blocks, just to say I did.

I will put together one more blog about the sights on the Mall. Tuesday, before my flight, I got up early and headed back to see the sun rising over the cherry trees. You won’t want to miss it.

I couldn’t stop grinning the whole morning.

Found a few seconds of solitude at Jefferson’s.

March 16, 2016
by dawnkinster 22 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

February 14, 2016
by dawnkinster 17 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Katie here. Mama says I can say Happy Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my friends, which includes every one of you! Here in the United States February 14 is a day that people give each other cards and chocolates and flowers and other mushy stuff to show their love. I don’t know if those of you outside the United States have a similar holiday, but if you do I’d like to read about it!

My calendar girl look.

In fact, I’d like to know what each of you do for Valentine’s Day no matter where you live because here at my house no one is getting me anything! I think that’s unjust, especially since I’m a princess. What’s the point of being a princess anyway if gifts are not regularly bestowed on me? Maybe in comments you can give mama some good ideas about how she should be celebrating me on this special day.

Meanwhile I am sending my love to my boyfriend Reilly the Cowspot Dog. I wanted to send him something special but I couldn’t figure out anything special enough for my best boy. I hope he’s OK with just having my undying love. I think we’re star crossed doggies, Mr. Reilly and I, as we’ve never met but we will someday!

So everybody, I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I know I will have a great day even if I don’t get any presents, because I’ll spend it with my mama and daddy.

Don’t tell them I said so, but I don’t really need anything else but them.

Mama makes me look silly!

December 25, 2015
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

Merry Christmas

Mama! This hat is too big for me!

Katie and her family wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas!

Ho ho ho!

December 18, 2015
by dawnkinster 25 Comments

Foggy reflections

We are careening toward the end of the year, no stopping it, can’t even slow it down. People are crazily trying to get everything done in time, working toward their perfect holiday. Stores are open 24 hours and many folks are losing sleep. Cooking themselves into a stupor. Exhausted.

Me? Not so much. The few gifts I needed to send are sent. The cards were in the mail last week. I think I’m done.

Foggy horse barn

I wonder if I’m missing something by avoiding the stores and malls. Avoiding the frenzy. I guess I could go shopping for nothing in particular just to experience the ‘holiday joy,’ listen to the music, look at decorations. People watch.

But I don’t think so.

I’m participating in a challenge with some of my runner women friends. We have committed to walking or running at least one mile every day, starting Thanksgiving Day and ending New Years Day. So far I haven’t broken the streak and I find I like being outside a bit every day.

Waiting for snow

We had a streak of foggy mornings recently. It’s been unseasonably warm here, with only one snowstorm now long since gone. It’s peaceful to walk in the fog.

So my gift to you this holiday season is a reminder to take a bit of time off from the craziness that is your life and take a little walk. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to actually go anywhere. Just get yourself outside and breath, a little bit every day, between now and the New Year.

And have a wonderful holiday with your families.

Gift for the birds

December 2, 2015
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Christmas arrives

My community band played our holiday concert last night, complete with Santa conducting one of our pieces. It seemed a bit early to me, playing Christmas music on the first of December, yet I know many radio stations have been playing Christmas music for weeks. And the crowd seemed to get into the spirit, clapping along with “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Sleigh Ride.”

Checking out the music prior to the concert

We had only four weeks to get ready for this concert; just a month ago we were playing Halloween music in our first concert of the year. It always feels strange to be rehearsing holiday pieces early in November, long before any of us are bitten by the spirit of Christmas.

It reminds me, every year, of the late 70s when my mom owned a ceramic store. We started firing glazed Christmas trees in October. In order for people to have their trees for holiday tables we needed to get them done prior to Christmas. And given how many we put through the kilns we had to start weeks before anyone would typically think about decorating with trees and ornaments. I remember feeling that Christmas was over the weekend before the actual holiday because we were finished putting Christmas ceramics projects through the store. And I remember listening to people talk about their plans for Christmas and being perpetually surprised that it was still in the future.

The real deal.

That’s how I feel this year. Now that the concert is over I feel like I can relax. As if the holiday was done. No huge holiday event hovers over me. No frantic planing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, no real plans at all. And while that is a peaceful feeling, it isn’t all good. I notice Christmas trees lit in living room windows as I travel past houses at dusk, I see the Christmas lights up in yards, and I smile a bit wistfully.

So a little Christmas cheer is in order around here. I think I’ll put the big wreath up on the front of the house and plug it in. That’s about all the preparation I think I can deal with and it’s enough to make me smile when I pull into the driveway.

What is enough for you? Are you doing the full Christmas tree, house covered in lights, piles of gifts, huge holiday dinner? Or are you scaling back this year? For me, for this year, a quiet Christmas will be just the ticket now that the holiday concert is a wrap.

Music stand reflects light

November 29, 2015
by dawnkinster 5 Comments

Time marches into Christmas

I belong to a cyber group of running women; friendships formed years ago when we ran together and separately are maintained now mostly via email. Some of us still run. Some don’t anymore, but encourage the rest. We are all important to each other. This holiday season our Energizer Betty suggested a challenge – that we each commit to walking or running at least one mile every day, beginning on Thanksgiving and continuing until the New Year. It seemed sensible, so I’m in.

What’s one mile, right? For a person bent on getting her 10,000 steps in every day this should be a piece of cake. But here it is day four and it’s cold outside. I don’t want to go to the park for my walk, don’t want to even walk down the street here at home. So I head to my backup walking place – the mall. The stores there don’t open until 11 on Sundays so I arrived just before 9, hoping to get my three miles in and be long gone before holiday shoppers descended.

The parking lot didn’t look that different, perhaps a few more cars, and I headed inside confident I could get my walk done. I was surprised to hear Christmas music blaring from the overhead speakers and all the lights on. The stores were raising their gates as I moved along, and people were beginning to stream in through entrances I passed. Santa was already ho ho hoing on his big chair, the movie theaters were open and smelling of popcorn.

Obviously things were beginning to jump already.

I wove my way through the shoppers moving more quickly than normal as I found myself marching to the fast paced Christmas music. After only one loop, a measly one mile, I gathered my coat and ducked out to the car. I’m going to have to get going sooner in the morning if I plan on using the mall for my walks from now till Christmas.

On my drive home I turned up the radio and soon was listening to the Trans-siberian Orchestra‘s heavy pounding relentless Christmas music. I usually love their stuff, but this morning I felt it was pushing me on down the road, that I was too swiftly moving toward some unknown future. Time is moving so fast. Our community band’s holiday concert is this Tuesday! I’ve barely put the gardens to bed and here we are pushing up against Christmas.

She was having a good day.

I visited Aunt Vi this afternoon. She’s 100 years old now and spends most of her time sitting in her recliner listening to her bird chirp, watching traffic go by on the road. All those people coming and going, she says, where are they all going? I don’t know Aunt Vi, I don’t know. We’re all going somewhere in a hurry, trying to keep up, headed toward some unknown future, moving quickly to the beat of relentless holiday music.

We’re all in a hurry to get there. But I wonder where the ‘there’ is. Aunt Vi is 100 and she’s no longer running to keep up. I hope I can learn that lesson too. I hope I can slow down and enjoy each day. And I’m probably going to need to find a calmer place as a backup for my walks.

As we rush toward Christmas and the end of another year I hope we can each find moments of calm, peace, beauty and friendship. I’ll be looking for those things on my daily walks.

I hope you find them too.

Friends

November 26, 2015
by dawnkinster 7 Comments

Katie says she’s thankful

Listen up!

Katie here.

I know I usually steal mama’s blog when I have a complaint to voice. And don’t get me wrong, there are numerous things to complain about, mostly revolving around the limited access I have to treats. I’m working on that, but it’s slow going.

My mama told me today is Thanksgiving here in the United States. That’s a time when families and friends get together, eat a lot of food, and remind themselves how truly lucky they are. Well. If there’s a lot of food involved I’m in.

Oh.

Mama says it’s not about the food. She says that I have to tell you all what I’m thankful for. Well let me see…

First of all I’m thankful that I have my mama and my daddy to take care of me. I don’t admit it very often but they spoil me just a little bit. I have pillows all over the house just in case I want to take a nap. I need a pile of pillows, don’t you know, because I’m a princess. And a princess always needs to be comfortable. I also get to sleep on the bed, and if I choose the best spot they will usually move over for me. And they make sure I have lots of toys to play with, and they never (hardly ever) forget to feed me right on schedule; if they’re a little slow I remind them and they hop right on it. Yep, my mama and my daddy are the best things that ever happened to me. But don’t tell them, I don’t want them to get too big headed.

My aunt got me this frog when I was a baby!

I’m also thankful for all the adventures my mama takes me on. We get to go to my park pretty often, and my mama takes me to other bigger parks too. There’s always a lot to sniff and I love to go go GO! Sometimes, when it’s nice out, we even go to the park and stay there all night! Mama says that’s called camping and I just love it! I get to sleep outside (well, in a tent) and smell the lovely sniffings all day long! I love being outside so camping is just perfect for me! Mama says she likes to do that too so it all works out.

Camping is a blast!

And of course I’m thankful for all of you! I like hearing about all your adventures. It’s a small world and it’s good to know so many doggie families. I’m especially thankful to be Reilly the CowSpotdog’s girlfriend. I hope I get to actually meet him and his family soon — we’ve been long distance friends for a really long time. He lives in a pawsome place now and I can’t wait to visit!

My boyfriend Reilly.

On a sad note we had very bad news last night when we heard that our FB sheltie friend Agnes Ann was killed by a car. Mama couldn’t stop crying, though I tried to make her feel better. She and I went outside and looked at the big full moon and she hugged me really tight and I let her cause I knew that’s what she needed to do. She cried into my fur for a long time and I was just quiet, didn’t even ask to get down. After awhile she wiped her eyes and rubbed the sheltie fur off of her face and we came back inside. I’m thankful that I can give mama that comfort when she needs it. She says I should tell you all to hug your people today too.

This Thanksgiving will be quiet here and I’m happy to be spending it with my folks. I am thankful that they aren’t going south this year, they’re going to spend this holiday with me! I hope they share some of that food I’ve heard so much about, but I doubt it. Mama has this silly rule about people food. I don’t get any unless it happens to jump off the counter on it’s own accord. Which is why whenever mama is in the kitchen I’m in the kitchen. Shelties are smart you know.

Thankful that I’m beautiful.

I hope you all have a wonderful, calm, peaceful and happy Thanksgiving with your peoples. I’m thankful for each of you that reads my mama’s blog. It makes her feel good to know you’re all out there.

And if you think of it, send some healing thoughts to Agnes Ann’s mom Kathy.

I’m thankful for all of YOU!

May 25, 2015
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Memorial Day; remember

Today, Memorial Day in the United States, I wish for all of us to take a moment and remember. Remember someone in your family, or a friend, or a friend of a friend, who has served this country.

Remember that some didn’t come home.

Remember that some came home permanently changed.

Remember that we owe them all. And that we owe their families too.

And then get on with your weekend party. Celebrate summer and life and family.

But never forget.

February 14, 2015
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

WordPress photo challenge: Symmetry

If you go to the original post you’ll see inspirational photo which is gorgeous…and looks just like shots we took of a similar fort in Maine this past summer. Friday I had lots of ideas about things to photograph that show symmetry. I had plans for heading out on Monday, a holiday from work, to see what I could see. But it’s 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15C) right now and it’s going to get colder the rest of this long weekend and the wind is blowing making it even worse. So it’s very possible I won’t be going anywhere. I figured this would be yet another photo challenge that I missed because I just can’t get out of the house with my camera.

Then I looked out my kitchen window, watching the wind whip snow across the back yard. And I saw it.

Alien?

I have no idea what sort of animal would make tracks like this. It looks like a giant turtle pulled itself up to the bird feeder and then back out to the woods. But it’s certainly not turtle weather at the moment. Here’s a closer image. What do you think made these?

Two aliens

Maybe it was Winnie the Pooh’s mysterious Heffalump, but whatever it was I like the symmetry.

The wind has now covered up the tracks; I was lucky to notice it when I did. If you’d like to see some other images of symmetry, try here, here, here and here. Or go to the original post and look at all that have been submitted so far. The challenge lasts for a week, so check there again later and you’ll see even more!

What’s symmetric in your life? I hope it’s a warmer image than mine. I, for one, am thoroughly done with all the winter snow and wind. I’d like to photograph a symmetric field of corn or the symmetry of a dahlia blossom. I might still go and try to find some colorful symmetry. We’ll see.

How about you? Can you find a bit of symmetry somewhere around you?

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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