Happy, Happy Birthday Baby...

all my love,
mama pajama

2 hOt 2 HaNdlE...

dog days...

We are sweltering under a heat wave the likes of which have never been experienced in our area. Ever. I fear that the morning and evening watering of the vegetable garden and flowers will not be enough to save them from the oppressive heat. I've already had the spinach and lettuce bolt before I was able to pull them and the poor daisies and belles are hanging their heads and crying for relief. I have moved them all to a shady place but I don't think it will be enough. I just hate to see the glory of the garden cut short again this year. Usually it's the cool wet weather that causes a late start and an early end. We'll just have to see what becomes of it all. The weather report for the next week is still in the high 90's and for us that is still h.o.t. It is expected to be 88degrees at midnight tonight..Yikes!

The only good thing as of now is that it is 79degrees in the house and I am hopeful for a restful nights sleep! Also, we have tomatoes reddening up very quickly now and the hubs picked the first batch of Romanitas...these are the only ones that made it into the house:
How does your garden grow?
mama pajama

On a HOT summer night...

I took this one just as the sun was popping out from behind the trees in our backyard. It's now 80degrees in the house but the temp. outside is a balmy 92degrees.



I moved our hanging baskets of mini-belles to a shady place until the heat-wave passes and was quite surprised to find this bad boy on the patio screen. I don't know spiders, except that they scare the woo-hoo out of me, but this just looks like it could cause trouble--or pain--or both. So how is your summer going?

signed: mama pajama

Mama Pajama and other tid-bits...

..."mama pajama rolled out of bed and ran to the police station," Paul Simon I love you but this song has been running around my head for several days and it must stop...now...please.

*in the past, every time I thought about walking away from the blog, I would suddenly have all kinds of blog fodder, all bloggity-bloggity-blog, bippity-bobbity-boo. This time? nothing.

*I have been wrestling much with the big D lately. Depression. Not the economic depression, although I have many ideas on the subject I fear no one is listening. Depression. The one that affects your thoughts and feelings and turns the sunny skies gray.

*I want to go back and do things right. I want to re-live every precious moment of my children's lives. (truly the best days of my life) I want to hold hands with my husband and walk along the beach. I want to stop feeling so bad. I want to stop feeling so guilty for being sick. I want my extended family back...

See, I'm just not any fun to be around right now and I really don't know what on earth to do about it.

Heartfelt Friday...

twirl me around
twirl me around
let me grow dizzy
and fall to the ground.
and when I look up
at you looking down
say it was only a dream...

Cest la Vie...

...'such is life.' Thank you for all your well wishes and support. I'm feeling a little less stressed and trying to follow my heart. I am sure that I will be back with all of you very soon. Take care my friends...

Shufflin' off to Buffalo...

When I worked in a hospital I was a
Health Unit Coordinator.
It was an intense job, not nursing intense,
but it had it's moments. I had to know where everyone
on the floor was, patients, doctors, nurses, techs, etc.
everyone.
We would have some pretty tough days
(especially during a full moon)
and would often talk about needing to take
a mental health holiday.
Well, I need to take a mental health holiday.
for my sanity...
I am trying to deal with some difficult
situations here, some health problems
some 'family' problems.
and now that
all the hoopla is over
from the spectacular wedding,
I have no choice but to face them and take care of things.
I am stepping back for awhile
I don't know how long.
It might be today
or
it might be weeks
or
it might be for good.
I can't make any promises at this point.
You all have been my lifeline
in the past,
YOU
are why I started this blog and I have
been blessed to have met so many wonderful friends.
I will be checking in on all of you
from time to time,
and will comment accordingly.
Please know that I
am
thinking of you all... with a smile =;))

Shangri-la...

Have you ever written a long,
newsy, pity-party e-mail...
and
sent it to the wrong person?
yeah...
I did.
it's "Feung shui" all
over again.

Daydreamin' and I'm thinkin' of you...

This was taken the

evening before the ceremony.

Blame it on the Bossa Nova...

the dance of love.
I don't know what is going on here but in this photo you can better see the brides veil which was hand-made by her best friend and carried here from San Fransisco to the wedding. We had our formal pictures done and then mulled around until 4:30 when the ceremony began.
Since I was part of the ceremony I don't have pics but when I get the formal ones I can post them. The ceremony was an intertwining of both of their faiths and was quite lovely. My husband and I walked our son down the isle, then the flower girls, and then the bride with her father and Step-mother. We each gave our blessing to the bride/groom and they went together to the front of the gazebo where the officiant stood. The next part was to fill out the paper-work with the witnesses. Neither the bride or groom had attendents so each of them had their only sibling witness their marriage. The fathers of the bride/groom were witness to the Katubah which is the Jewish Marriage License. After this they gave a blessing to those who were not physically present, my parents, the grand-parents of the bride, and the brides mother who passed away at a very young age. They said their vows and each read a poem to the other that they had picked out and exchanged rings. Then they presented the groom with a glass rolled up inside a towel. The Breaking of the Glass Ceremony symbolizes the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is also a reminder that the relationship is fragile and must be treated with love and respect. Then the groom stepped on the glass, breaking it. After another blessing they were presented to the crowd as Mr. and Mrs....
Another Jewish custom is lifting the Bride and Groom onto chairs and holding them up while everyone dances around them in celebration. This took place immediately after the ceremony and these pictures give you an idea of what that looked like.
This went on for several minutes and although it looks scary I am assured that it was not. After a bit more of dancing and singing we were off to the Lodge for the formal dinner...

Patience is a Virtue...

...I certainly didn't think that I would be busier this week than I was in the weeks leading up to the wedding but alas, I am. Blogger is being stingy tonite so I have been unable to upload more than four photos, but I will happily share what I have so far.

This picture was taken before the real ceremony but is the first time that the Bride and Groom have seen each other in their finery. We are at the historic Lake Quinault Lodge and all of the formal wedding pictures were taken in this area of the grounds with the lake views in the background. I present to you my son Jeffrey and his Bride Lauren:

Here we have the flower girls lining up for their photos:

This one is from the ceremony, just after the chair-lifting which I hope I can post later. This is, of course, the garter scene...
This is a photo of four of the people who mean the most to me, just add in my husband and you have my whole world! Left: my daughter Lindsay, my son Jeffrey, my daughter-in-law Lauren, and my son-in-law Craig.
We arrived at our cabin on Wednesday after about a 4hour drive. It is a beautiful 'home' on the lake and was much larger than we'd expected and just beautiful. There were two dining rooms with the kitchen in between which worked well for our Thursday evening 'Grooms' dinner. More on that later. It rained the entire first day. My daughter and her husband arrived the next day and we began preps for the dinner. It rained the entire second day. The bride and groom also arrived on Thursday as did the rest of the immediate family and approximately 70 relatives of the brides family. There were six of us. Anyway, we awoke on Friday, the big day, to rain, who is surprised?? I mean really, who? Lucky for us the sun dance we did around the bonfire on the beach the nite before worked and by late morning the sun was out, the grass was drying, and the bees were gathering for an appearance at the soon to be wedding...