Kitty & Me

This picture is of me and my girl's cat, Kitty. She's a skittish cat — was born feral, before we started bringing her inside and turned her into a lazy housecat. Anyway, as you might remember, Kitty had surgery awhile back to remove a cancerous tumor on her side. She's been doing really well since then. However, she has some new growth, so she'll be going back in tomorrow to have that removed. If you could please keep her in your thoughts, I'd appreciate it. This picture, by the way, is the ONLY one I have of me and Kitty together. She's such a spaz that she usually doesn't let me pet her, more or less pose for a picture with. Anyway, tomorrow is a big day for her, so I hope everything goes well.

Together 32 years ...

Rick and I celebrated the anniversary of our very first date yesterday. We went to an annual tennis tournament dance in Ojai, California on April 24, 1981. It's amazing to think we've been together for 32 years now, even though we've only been married for 25 years. I say only like that's not very long. Ha! The picture above is one of the earliest ones I have of us together. We were standing in the petting zoo at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from our actual first date. That would be really cool to have, but it was before cameras went digital and before the age of everyone having a camera via cell phone. Fortunately, my mom loved photography and took quite a few of us in those early days, like the one above.

This last one was taken in 1984, so it was a few years after we'd been dating. I only remember the year because of Rick's shirt. And again, this one was taken at Six Flags Magic Mountain. We went there a lot in the 1980s. By the 1990s, the place was riddled with gangs, so we stopped going. Anyway, it's incredible to think that I've been with Rick for 32 years!

Just a few pics from Glacier NP ...

New Toy!

My husband, Rick surprised me recently when he said he ordered this camera for me. We had been looking at it for awhile, and comparing it to another Canon that I had my eye on. This was the more expensive of the two, but after Rick did quite a bit of research, he felt it was the best value. I'm so excited to try it out. It runs on a rechargeable battery, so I have to get that going before I can play around with it.

This will be my third Canon PowerShot. I am currently using the S3IS model, but it's over seven years old now. Every now and then it makes a funny noise when the lens comes out, so I don't know how much longer it has to go. Rick said he wanted to use it, so at least it's not going to feel left out. Before that one, I had the S1IS model. That was a nice camera too, but mine died a quick death after being stuck with salt water at Sea World. Yeah, yeah ... I know. They did tell us we were in the splash zone, but I honestly thought I had time to put it away. It was halfway in and — SPLASH — thanks, Flipper. It turned on once, and then it just croaked.

Anyway, I'm excited to give this SX50-HS a try, just as soon as it's all charged up. Having gotten an iPhone in recent months, I'm finding myself all too reliant on that for pictures. Then of course, something really cool comes along and I don't get a good photograph. I guess iPhone cameras have their purpose, but nothing beats a good digital camera.

After nearly a whole year ...

Neil, my youngest, decided he FINALLY wanted to get his hair cut. I think the last time he got it cut was right before we went to Disney World last May. So, I guess we're looking at almost a year. Personally, I liked his hair long. At one point, it was even longer than pictured below. Even so, he seems to be pretty happy with it being short again. Here is his before & after ...

And the winner is ...

STEF HASEL!

Congratulations, Stefanie, and thanks to all of you who entered the drawing. Lemur Troops & Critter Groups is an adorable picture book. Nikki did an incredible job illustrating it. 

Two More Days ...

I'm giving away a free copy of my second picture book, Lemur Troops & Critter Groups this Thursday. I've really stunk at blogging lately, so I haven't gotten the word out much. If you'd like to be entered for a chance to win, please click HERE to go to the original post.