A daughter is the happy memories of the past,
the joyful moments of the present,
and the hope and promise of the future.

-Unknown

Cassidy turned five in July, and all she wanted was a pinata, a tiara, and a trip to the zoo.

So in the photo above we are enjoying our trip to the zoo, and below, we have the pinata.

I can’t say I’ve ever really understood the allure of the pinata, the need to beat something with a stick to get at the goodies inside, but whatever. Kid wants a pinata (thank you, Jon & Kate, for letting her know that she NEEDED a pinata) and a pinata she had.

The boys chipped in on the candy to ensure we got the good stuff instead of the usual pinata fare of cheap plastic toys and chalky sweets. The downside to that was, the thing was packed so tight that nobody could bust it open.

We tried-

and tried-

and tried-

until finally Jeff broke the stick on the thing’s back.

So, we just opened up the trapdoor on the thing’s butt and dumped out the candy, and Cass has a lovely souvenir from her 5th birthday.

(Note: the candles in the top picture caused some sort of weird reflection in the camera lens, which resulted in Cassidy appearing to wear a tiara made of fairy fire. The actual tiara was broken maybe ten minutes after escaping its package. But it’s a neat effect, eh?)

Happy belated internet birthday to my darling girl, my girly girl, full of fire and enthusiasm and bubbling laughter and cheer, who loves everything and everyone and makes me strive to be a good mother and a good person, to be every good thing she perceives me to be.

To the sane and free it will hardly seem necessary to cross the continent in search of wild beauty, however easy the way, for they find it in abundance wherever they chance to be.

Like Thoreau they see forests in orchards and patches of huckleberry bush, and oceans in ponds and drops of dew.

Few in these hot, dim, strenuous times are quite sane or free; choked with care like clocks full of dust, laboriously doing so much good and making so much money- or so little- they are no longer good for themselves.

When, like a merchant taking a list of his goods, we take stock of our wilderness, we are glad to see how much of even the most destructable kind is still unspoiled.

-John Muir

Many thanks to those who left me comments and emailed me to welcome me back to the blogosphere! It means very much to me.

As you may have guessed, I managed to save up for a snazzy new camera! I haven’t had much time to figure it all out quite yet, so bear with me in the days ahead. I can tell you this, though, my next big purchase will be a snazzy telephoto lens so I can finally capture those elusive crows that visit me each morning. (cough, cough… Want to help me out with that? There’s a tip jar in the sidebar… Just click donate...)

To be quite frank, I have felt neither sane nor free these last few months, and it is an immeasurable relief to be back behind the lens and enjoying my self-imposed solitude, seeking out and taking comfort in the wilderness that perseveres in spite of our carelessness and industry. To focus on the little things and have no sense of time. To sit eye-to-eye with a toad.

“O brave new world,
That has such creatures in’t!”

Another beautiful July day outside, so I am unplugging for the afternoon, taking stock of our wilderness- the most destructable kind- the sort that we carry within.

Hope that you are doing the same!

No one will notice if I slink quietly back in here, right?

And pretend I’ve been here all along?

I’ve been a very bad blogger. The reasons are varied and complicated and I’ll get into that some other time.

For now, just want to say hey, I’ve missed everybody, and I’m back. No getting rid of me now.

And for now, wanted to share my very most favorite thing I’ve come across during my absence. I’ve been waiting so very long to show it to you.

It’s the polite umbrella: