Living Room Still Life (268/366)

TIME: 8:13 pm

PLACE: Living room
SUBJECT: Lamp, salt lamp, photo of my maternal great-grandparents
and a candle on the doughbox table

*~*~*

It's getting darker earlier and earlier...the sun set at 6:52:11 pm tonight.

Tomorrow it will set at 6:50:36 pm - 2 minutes earlier than tonight.

I am so not ready for this.

Owl (233/366)

 

TIME: 8:22 pm
PLACE: Front Porch
SUBJECT: Owl lantern

*~*~*

I lit citronella candles, sat on the porch and drank a screwdriver (with peach vodka!) this evening.

The candle behind this owl flared as I took the photo and made an orange glow - no filter applied!

I Whisk I Was Younger (119/365)

TIME: 7:23 PM
PLACE:  10th St. Bakery
SUBJECT:  Light

Another year.
Another birthday.
I am now 8 and 40.
(it sounds better that way)

We had sushi for supper and stopped for ice cream.


A mother-daughter selfie.

We then went to 10th St. Bakery for a drink and birthday donuts.
What more could I want?

Candle Wax (087/365)

“Don't tell me I'm burning the candle at both ends, tell me where to get more wax.”
Unknown

”TIME:  12:23 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Candle

I love candles.
I buy most of mine on clearance at Target.
I bought this one last year –
Black Orchid & Amber (an awesome smell by the way)
It was stored in a drawer and somehow became broken.
I lit it anyway and the wax spilled over the broken glass.

Candles, Campfire & Cold Cat (046/365)

TIME:  5:08 PM
PLACE: Living room
SUBJECT:  Stella and her cake

We finally had Stella’s official birthday party today.


TIME: 6:11 PM
PLACE: Backyard
SUBJECT:  Fire

It was only about 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
But Stella wanted to have a bonfire anyway.
The kids didn’t care about the cold.
They gathered around the fire, roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.


Jack stayed inside.
But he was still cold.

Birthday Cake (162/366)

“Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake.”

Else Holmelund Minarik, Little Bear

TIME:  7:40 PM
PLACE:  Dining room
SUBJECT:  MB’s Birthday cake

MB’s 13th birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated tonight with family and his friends.  I made this cake with icing for the official “blowing-out-of-the-candles.”   The cake he really wanted – and I did make, just for him to eat – was a non-frosted, 9”x13” version.

Don’t Fear The Reaper (042/365)

“The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared (saying don't be afraid)
Come on baby (and she had no fear)”

Blue Oyster Cult. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." Agents of Fortune. Perf. Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser. Columbia, 1977.

TIME:  8:08 PM
PLACE:  Home
SUBJECT:  StellaDella’s birthday cake

THIS is the cake my 7 year-old daughter wanted for her birthday party.  Well, she really wanted zombies and werewolves, but the bakery at the grocery store did not have those figures.  So SD settled on a cake with a grim reaper, a vulture, a headstone and black balloons – more specifically, an “Over The Hill” cake theme.  The woman who took our order thought it was hilarious that my sweet looking, red-headed, little girl wanted this to be her birthday cake.  When I picked it up this afternoon, she told me that the decorator called as soon as she faxed the order to verify that we really wanted this particular cake for a seven-year old.  Yes we did. *shrugs* It’s her birthday and this is the cake that she wanted…I’m just happy that she was able to get her one that she liked.

Summer Candles (188/365)

 
“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it onto future generations.”

George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)

TIME:  9:47 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Candle decoration

I have a round glass tray that I use for seasonal candle displays.  In the summer I use this blue mosaic holder, rocks and shells along with other candles for a summer beach theme.  I lit them tonight because there was a strong wet dog odor in my house ~ not my favorite smell.   We had summer showers late this afternoon and early evening and Oreo got soaked when she went outside to do her business.  Poor doggie, I know she can’t help that she stinks.

Obligatory Pumpkin Photo (304/365)

 
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 3, sc. 2, l. 388-90.

TIME:  5:52 PM
PLACE:  The front porch
SUBJECT:  Jack-o-lanterns

MonkeyBoy, StellaDella and I carved our pumpkins earlier this afternoon.  MB’s is on the right, and SD’s is on the left.  DramaQueen was busy with her BFF and didn’t help this year.  The three kids and I made our trick or treating trek a bit earlier than usual this year.  We started a little bit before 6pm while it was still light and were pretty much finished by 7pm.  When we returned home, DQ and I relieved HandsomeHusband of candy duty.  I brought Oreo outside with us to greet the masses…she enjoyed all the attention she received.  And so, another Halloween has come and gone - I hope yours was an enjoyable one!

Birthday Boy (241/365)

 
“…now I am six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now and forever.”

A.A. Milne (1882-1956), “The End” (l. 11-14)…Now We Are Six, 1927

TIME:  6:29 PM
PLACE:  My sister’s house
SUBJECT:  David Charles

6 years ago today, my younger sister had her first child, my nephew, David.  I was 3 months pregnant with StellaDella at the time.  When my sister went back to work, I watched him once in a while.  I remember taking him to the the mall when he was about 3 1/2 months old.  The salesclerks asked how old he was and when was my other baby due.  When I told them he was born in August and my baby was due in February, I got perplexed looks.  You could see them trying to do the calculations and not being able to figure it out.  I usually took pity on them and told them that he was my nephew, but sometimes I just left them wondering!    

Candlelight And Cake (163/365)

 
“Most of us can remember a time when a birthday - especially if it was one's own - brightened the world as if a second sun has risen.”

Robert Lynd (Irish Essayist and Journalist, 1879-1949)

TIME:  8;03 PM
PLACE:  The dining room
SUBJECT:  MonkeyBoy & his birthday cake

When this picture was taken, we were singing (quite off-key and it sounded like we were singing a funeral dirge!) "Happy Birthday" to MonkeyBoy.  I'm so glad the cake is hidden in the dark.  I ended up making the cake myself.  I took MB to the bakery to pick a cake out, but as we were looking at the available cakes, MB told me that what he really wanted was for me to make him a "plain cake", he did not want any of the "fancy ones" we saw.  "Just cake and icing Mom."  OK, if that is what the birthday boy wants, I will bake him a cake.  Well, it ended up turning out very CakeWreck-y.  But he was happy with it and it tasted good, so I guess that is all that really matters, huh?  He really cleaned up gift-wise - that boy took in over 150 dollars!  In addition to the cash, he received a Wii game, a game for his Nintendo DS, a coin counting bank and some walkie-talkies.  Before he went to bed, he hugged and kissed me and told me that it was the "best birthday ever!  Thanks Mom!"  You know, that makes it all worthwhile.