Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Blue Ribbon Week


A busy week! Todd's birthday at the end of July. Then the county fair began a few days after. My daughter entered two drawings this year and did smashingly well! None of us have participated in the fair before so this was a new experience for us. Carmen entered a black line drawing of a baby bunny hiding in grass and a colored pencil drawing of a grasshopper on a mushroom. We went to the fair on the first day (Tuesday) and looked for Carmen's drawings in the Exhibit Hall. We found the mushroom and were thrilled to see she had won first place (youth division, category "Other".) Then we looked for the bunny ... and were amazed to see 3 ribbons hanging on it! She won first place (youth division, category "Animal"), then Champion and Reserve Grand Champion. Which means she won first place of all the pen/pencil/ink drawings entered, including adult entries. Boy, were we happy for her! She also won a special prize given to "New Youth Exhibitor". Who knew? Now my sons are wishing they had participated and are planning what they can enter next year. Carmen received a lot of compliments on her artwork and she handled it with quiet grace. Makes me a proud Mom all around but mostly because of her sweet attitude.

Todd and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary last Saturday. We didn't have definite plans but we had a fun day. We brought home lunch from a nice place in town along the river so we could share with the kids. This place also sells ice cream and they had a flavor that I recently discovered I like but I decided not to buy any on this day. After lunch, I was wishing I had gotten the ice cream but I didn't tell Todd. Later, Todd and I went for a LONG walk, all the way into town and in and out of some antique stores and a favorite art gallery and a shoe store. When we left the shoe store, Todd turned toward the river instead of toward home. I asked where he was going and he said, "I thought we'd get that ice cream you wanted earlier!" That's what 23 years of marriage should do ... enable your spouse to read your mind! I was so shocked and pleased - it was the best ice cream I think I've ever had, since it was given with love!

We walked home and decided to make pizza for dinner. Todd volunteered to run to the store for mushrooms while I started preparing the meal. He returned home, leaning in the door with a big grin and a dozen white roses! He really knows what makes me happy! After dinner (with apple pie for dessert!) he and I drove up to the tallest hill in Astoria to watch the sunset. It almost felt like years ago, before we got married. We talked about things we would have done differently back then, in hindsight. Like getting married sooner than we did (we had a 9 month engagement, far too long for us). But it doesn't matter now, all our history has brought us to this point. Lessons learned and paths taken have created the marriage we now have. We both feel blessed to have each other.

It was a lovely, lovely day!

Next post ... Enrolling Chad in a college class. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

jugglingpaynes said...

Congratulations to Carmen! That is an awesome drawing. I would love to see the mushroom too. She has a lot of talent for such a young age. I didn't really get into ink drawings until I was in high school.

Happy anniversary! It sounded wonderful! I think those of us who are happy together just enjoy being able to spend some time with our love. I know I enjoyed our quiet celebration of twenty years. May you enjoy the treasure of your love for many many years to come!

Peace and Laughter,
Cristina

Cat said...

Happy Anniversary guys - 23 years is fabulous.

And go Carmen! What a wonderful reward to her being brave enough to enter her drawings at the fair. Looking forward to seeing more of her work.

Paula Vince said...

Wow, congrats for Carmen. That picture at the top of your post is gorgeous. And for your anniversary too. It's great to take stock, look at how far you've come and how far you still have ahead of you.