This photo was taken by Natalie and Sean’s good friend Colleen. I was told her photos would be “more creative” than mine… and they were! With Colleen behind the lens the kids were happy to smile and goof around. She got some good shots and I am sure they had fun modeling for her. So there you have it! Engagement photos, July 2023.
Wow, it’s August 23! I am at Mike and Rita‘s place on Table Rock Lake near Shell Knob Missouri with Vince and Joy and Trish and Jack. It’s been a good week. My tummy’s been a little upset but it’s starting to even out.
I’m beginning to rethink this blog again; and what direction I want to go. Maybe I’ll keep it as just musings on a weekly basis. Maybe I’ll start writing little stories. Maybe I’ll use it for remembrances of Jim. The actor, Richard Grant, has published a book about his late wife and their time together. It is part musings on going through the cancer process and the tsunami of grief after the love of your life passes, intermingled with stories of their life together. I found it very interesting the first time I read about what he was doing. It was like, “Oh, that’s what I was thinking about doing with my blog,” so I don’t feel very original, but I was thinking about starting to just recount little stories of Jim and I together.
It’s been interesting to be down here with these guys because they have stories. In fact a couple of them I wish Vince would write down for me and send. There’s one particularly good one where a bunch of guys were going to a rugby tournament in North Dakota and got lost. They stopped at a bar that sold them wine that had Elvis on the cover. Always Elvis wine. I know we had a bottle of that for a long time. I don’t know what happened to it, which is too bad. It would be a fun thing to have.
It’s nice to be around people who have stories about Jim. And it’s nice to hear them. I’m glad people don’t shy away from talking about him around me. I suppose that’s because I talk about him which gives them license to.
The other thing I’ve been thinking is, I really don’t need a blog to write these things down. I can just write them for myself. But I just paid for the blog for another year so maybe I’ll use that as an excuse to keep me writing. And it’s fun finding photos to put in. Maybe I’ll do the whole series on our bicycle trip in Ireland. That’s a really good idea. I wish I hadn’t lost all my original notes. Still, I have plenty of people I could call to refresh my memory. Maybe I should do that for the photo book as well.
What I did discover is that I need my mouse in order to use that website. It won’t let me bring that text box over with the touch pad. So, especially when I go to Europe, I will be taking my mouse with me. I do hope to do some writing there. For now I will continue talking into my phone. And just saying what’s on my mind.
And being happy for these two!
