summer lilacs

The Lilacs

In lonely gardens deserted--unseen--
Oh! lovely lilacs of purple and white,
You are dipping down through a mist of green;
For the morning sun's delight.
And the velvet bee, all belted with black,
Drinks deep of the wine which your flagons hold,
Clings close to your plumes while he fills his pack
With a load of burnished gold.

You hide the fences with blossoms of snow,
And sweeten the shade of castle towers;
Over low, grey gables you brightly blow,
Like amethysts turned to flowers.
The tramp on the highway--ragged and bold--
Wears you close to his heart with jaunty air;
You rest in my lady's girdle of gold,
And are held against her hair.

In God's own acre your tender flowers,
Bend down to the grasses and seem to sigh
For those who count time no more by hours--
Whose summers have all passed by--
But at eventide the south wind will sing,
Like a gentle priest who chanteth a prayer;
And thy purple censers he'll set a-swing,
To perfume the twilight air.

-Virna Sheard

lilacs are some of my very favorite summer flowers.

all of these photos are NOT edited (not surprise there).

you all know by now i'm far too lazy to actually edit pictures, right?

mother's day drive.

remember taking long sunday drives out to nowhere?

sitting in the backseat of the car?

bored out of your mind?

having to listen to your parents' choice in music?

was it only my family that had to experience these painful drives?

perhaps... but i'm thinking not.

i didn't get it as a kid.

i was restless... wanted to run... wanted to play.

but now that i'm an adult!?

i love taking drives.

really, i do!

and what better gift to me on mother's day than to take a nice long drive!?

we loaded up in our vehicle and headed east, to the canadian shield and lake country.

this was my glorious view for a couple of hours.

grey skies aren't so bad when you're cozy in your vehicle, listening to tunes and seeing those lakes.

our destination was a whole province away.  ;)
we drove to kenora, ontario.
first, we stopped for lunch.
i should have taken a picture of big k's lunch.
she ordered fish and chips off the kids menu and it was ginormous.
like two huge pieces of fish plus a plate full of fries.
and then she kept accidentally dropping pieces off her plate.
i kept sending her back under the table to clean up.
big m got mad at me and said that's what the servers are hired to do.
i said, 'no, k makes the mess... k can clean it up.'
i'm sorta hard core like that.

bush man and the babe'ster.

it was actually a really chilly day.
like, cold enough that there were even some snow flakes.
we had a brutally long cold spring here this year.
sigh...
but in these pics it looks sorta nice because it's sunny.
so, we'll just go with it and pretend it was a beautiful spring day.
mmmkay?

walking around by this old bridge was sorta cool.

my girlies and i!!

another shot on the other side of the bridge.

and, of course, i had to set up a timed shot with all 5 of us.
i wouldn't be my father's daughter if i didn't do this on one of our 'drives'.
we were trying hard not to step on broken beer bottles and such.
i think baby h even tried to pick up an empty bottle of booze, or listerine or paint thinner.
these are the moments that special life long memories are made of, right?

tada!
i'm safe and didn't cut myself on that broken glass!

this documents that i'm not always behind the lens at all times.
i must have released the camera for at least a little bit.

here too!
having some one on one time with my biggest girl.
walking towards the mighty muskie fish!

 if this doesn't scream photo op... i'm not sure what does??

YES!
let's get all of us in the shot with huskie the muskie!!
another timed masterpiece!

this is... under the bridge.
i dare you not to start singing red hot chilli peppers.
am i dating myself?
i loved coming of age in the 90's, yo!

back in town we loitered in the coffee shop because the girls had to go pee and i wasn't willing to search out a public bathroom in the cold wind.
there was a sign on the bathroom door of the coffee shop that said you had to be a paying customer to use it.
so we loitered at least a good 10 minutes before leaving.
to make it seem like we were there for real... and not just using their toilet services.
(i was too full for coffee, if you can believe it... plus i didn't want to have to stop to pee on the drive home)

old signs.

cute buildings and shops.

hello!

 on the drive home, things got a bit goofy.

maybe that was due to the sugar rush these girls got after our stop at the gas station.
no long drive is complete without some sweet treats and snacks.

that's my mother's day recap...
only a month later.
maybe i'm getting my blogging mojo back.
maybe.