Winter Day in the Kitchen

An inside joke

Washing the dishes

It never hurts to have the Blessed Mother on your kitchen windowsill. Even if your window is dirty. Or maybe especially if your window is dirty.



The kids love this glass bee from Monticello.

The heart of my home.

Concentrating on the task at hand

A fit of giggles

I can't see you. I will not acknowledge you.

Grocery store flowers

Yes, her eyes really are that blue. And that ginormous.

Today was a gray day by all accounts -- full of snow showers and fraught with worried phone calls to and from school.

Even chipper Sally was feeling low, so I did what stay home moms are privileged to do: I made my own schedule and I packed it with a whole lot of nothing but being with the little ones.

After I put Bun in for a nap, I grabbed my camera and just started snapping away. I took 236 pictures without leaving the kitchen.

Sally is our elusive child when it comes to pictures. Just as there is sure to be a camera hog in every family, there is often the opposite, the child who refuses to be photographed. That's my Sal. It explains why our family photo for the church directory looks like we stood Sally up in front of a firing squad. All she needed was a little blindfold to complete the look.

Although, to be honest, she hardly looks out of place. The whole family looks deranged in our church directory photo. I'm sure that directory, when it arrives, will be a sweet way to invite other parishioners to contact us.

Out of respect for her abiding loathing of all things photographically staged, I got down on her level, got as tight a shot as my lens would allow, and just started clicking away.

I feel I should mention, in a testament to her iron will, that she only faced the camera about six times out of a hundred. It's a little like photographing lions in the wild: you need to remain still and preferably out of sight in their natural habitat. Candid is the way you must go with Sally.

I also found myself taking pictures of little bits and bobs of my kitchen; those little pieces of my life that make me happy to be home, in my own nest, after a day away.

All this snap-happiness did lift my spirits, but I still find myself making lists for all the things I plan to do in the spring and summer. It makes me able to bear dinginess of "the Febs," as I call them.

What about you? How do you beat the Febs? What are you looking forward to this spring?

And if you live in a place where spring comes earlier -- Val, MamaK, Nutmeg, Nicole -- enjoy a sunny day for me. I know from experience that you'll be sweating it (pun so intended) in August.