Monday, April 20, 2009

Phew!


It's been a busy weekend.

Friday night, Mighty B. had his first-ever tee-ball game. I have a great picture of all the kids sitting on the bench in uniform, but since I don't want to go posting pictures of others' kids, you'll just have to use your imagination. This is Mighty B. in his uniform:

I find blacking out a kid's face creepy, but it's not my kid and, well, you know.

The game was fun to watch. The kids were so excited and they had a wonderful time. The coaches worked really hard to keep them focused on the game, which was no mean feat with five-year-olds abandoning their positions to swarm the ball wherever it went. The funniest play of the day was Mighty B's teammate chasing down the ball he hit instead of running to first base.

While watching practice last week, The Oracle saw the coaches work their magic and noted that coaching tee ball is a lot like herding cats. I give these coaches a lot of credit. I'd never have the patience.
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On Saturday, we went to my father's. Due to a number of circumstances, this was their first meeting with Kryptonite. Ironically, I don't have blognames for my dad and stepmom. The kids call them Hon and Pop, so that will have to do for now.



My father absolutely cannot smile for a camera. He smiles when he laughs, but he can't force one when he has his picture taken. It drives Hon crazy. My friend, M, also has this strange trait. I like to think that it means they can't insincerely display what they don't feel.

A prayer or two for my dad is appreciated. He's having a heart catheterization done today (right now, in fact) because his latest stress test showed changes from the one prior, and he hasn't been feeling well. He has a bit of history in this area, so I'm concerned. (**Updated to add: the procedure found a blockage for which they inserted a stent as well as a couple other things. Hon says he's doing better already! Thank you!)

In the above picture, Kryptonite is resting on Hon's shoulder. Hon prefers not having her picture taken if she isn't wearing cosmetics. I think she's silly, but with the way I usually dodge the camera I respect her wishes. My kids don't care if she's made up or not. Aunt V., my sister, is in the background.

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On Sunday, we finally got to introduce Kryptonite to The Oracle's sister, who drove up from Texas. She also doesn't have a blogname. The House Fairy invited us to dinner and even took the time to make the kids' favorite veggies, and Mighty B. still ate little more than a handful of peas.




This picture isn't the best (should've closed the blinkin' drapes to avoid that flash), but it will let you put faces to names. Seated on the left side of the sofa is DEB (Depression-Era Baby). Aunt F. is holding Kryptonite, and The Oracle is to her left. Standing behind DEB is the House Fairy.


I like this picture of DEB. She has a l ittle animation to her expression that reminds me of her old, pre-stroke self. Gosh, I miss that part of her. She has made an amazing recovery in a lot of ways over the last 18 months, but a good chunk of her spark is gone.

If anyone can point me toward some sort of freeware that wipes out red-eye, I'd appreciate it. My camera has a red-eye reduction setting, and it's turned on, but I still get the stupid red-eye in my pictures. I avoid the flash whenever I can, but I had to use it here. Red-eye infuriates me!

2 comments:

Dragon Lady said...

Picasa from Google is a great app for photos. Their red-eye removal does it without leaving that zombie-like BLACK dot in the middle of the eye. They're great for all kinds of photo editing, and I use their slideshow as a screen saver.

Dragon Lady said...

PS - Dragon Lady is also known as Aimee. I guess Google is logging me in automatically, now.