Going to the Photographer

There are many books available to prepare children for experiences that may be frightening. Example: Going to the doctor, Going to the Dentist, Starting School....well we need one to prepare children for Going to the photographer. Luca was terrified and wouldn't even sit on the table. He is normally so friendly and independent but as soon as we walked in that studio he clung to my leg and started crying "I don't want to!" Its not the sort of situation where you can take the hard line, "LUCA just get up on that table and SMILE." Probably won't get the best facial expression. Eventually he warmed up and we got at least one decent shot of the two of them.

LILIES

Here are a few more pictures of our flowers. This time it is Lily season. These remind me of that song that goes:
Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow...
and then there's more, but I never remember it. This morning James and I were waiting for the sun to rise, checking out our lilies, and wondering why I have to go to work too early and come home too late. And I was remembering snippets of this Longfellow poem I had read a long time ago:

Beautiful lily, dwelling by still rivers,
Or solitary mere,
Or where the sluggish meadow-brook delivers
Its waters to the weir!

Thou laughest at the mill, the whirr and worry
Of spindle and of loom,
And the great wheel that toils amid the hurry
And rushing of the flame.

And finally, part of Brahms' german requiem:

Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen
wie des Grases Blumen.
Das Gras ist verdorret
und die Blume abgefallen

For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower thereof falleth away

I don't actually understand german, I just put it here because thats how I remember hearing it on my parents' scratchy LP when I was a teenager first coming to a realization of my own mortality. Anyway, here are the pictures:
*Jeremiah

Luca's B-day

Its a scooter day! Luca loved his birthday present from his aunt Emmy so much he had to eat breakfast wearing his helmet the next day. Luca really made out like a bandit this year!!!