The Birthday Girl

Today, she is my birthday. Which means...I can do anything I want! And I just want to share some favorite photos from near and far and long ago and yesterday...

This is my puffy man, Madison.

I loved this day, spent with a special friend. He took me to a place I never would have found by myself and it was so serene.

This is *long* ago, like 35 years ago. Me and my girlfriend being silly on the ponies. I don't know why I'm making the goofy face (photo left), but our times at the barn were always fun.

Me and my first horse, Elmer J. Fudd (Millionaire. He owned a mansion and a yacht).

Me and my baby. And donuts. 

Nice glasses, Bettye from the past. Nice. Giant. Glasses.

Me and a llama :-)

My mother and me when I was just a wee one.

My boy, just in from a blizzard, with his most sincere face.

My beautiful baby.

Spring.

My baby Katie, Leroy, Robbie (aka The Boy-os), and my ex-husband. When he had big hair.

Fleurs on my desk at work.

Tiny Jane in the packing peanuts. She loved diving in and swimming through them. 

She kinda looks like one of those blow-up alien dolls, right??

My best girl and my best boy.

Sweet Katie 

Mommy & Daddy

Spring at Planting Fields Arboretum

My beautiful New York City

All photos by me. Unless I'm in them. And then I don't know.

Happy Birthday to me. I'm off to have a fun day. 

Weekend Part I

Saturday was one of those days where you give yourself permission to stay home and do nothing because the weather was supposed to be bad...and then the weather was beautiful! But I allowed very low expectations of myself and didn't even pretend that I was going to be productive in any way whatsoever. We all need those days once in a while. So I slept late, which always makes the kitties happy...had breakfast for lunch...played on Pinterest most of the afternoon, then late in the day, took the dog to the little beach along the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn (which always makes *him* happy!). And had a chocolate milkshake for dinner.

The End.

what I'm most thankful for...

Not a very glamorous photo for the day, but...my daughter is with me for the holiday, and last night, after doing some baking (two batches of chocolate-chip banana bread, one of which I'm going to turn into banana bread pudding with a vanilla creme anglaise, a la Pioneer Woman (ish) for dessert tonight), we were watching a movie...at one point I got up to check how the banana bread was doing, and as I returned, I saw this sight. And I realized that everything I love the most, all the things I am most thankful for, were right there in front of me.

So, a quick post today just to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends, family, followers, fellow bloggers, fellow photographers, and even just nice folks whose paths might cross mine...I wish you all a peaceful day filled with the joy of loved ones and pleasing comforts.

xoxo
Bettye

sparkly bits

my mother was a pretty serious hoarder, though when I was growing up, living in a house w umpteen multiples of EVERYTHING just seemed Normal. It's only in hindsight that I realize she really had a problem.

That said, I think as hoarders go, she was a Top Rate one! She had GREAT stuff, just WAY too much of it. She had drawers and drawers and DRAWERS of jewelry - costume and real, from many eras. Remind me to tell you about the time she accidentally threw out all her "good" jewelry!

But anyway, my favorite collection of hers was the rhinestone jewelry collection, that she kept in a darling lucite box purse, each item individually wrapped in tissue paper (like kleenex, not like acid-free tissue paper). it seemed SO glamorous to me - the dangly earrings and wide mesh bracelets, the little coin purse, the slidey comb and lipstick tube, brooches, necklaces, even a wallet. Some of the things have been lost or sold over the years, but I still have most of her collection intact, and I also keep it safe away in the lucite box purse. I wear things on occasion, and let my daughter wear some pieces to her prom...but mostly it stays wrapped up...until I come across it in the closet...and spend some time taking each piece out, admiring it, remembering how she used to get dressed in the most amazing cocktail dresses to go to fancy parties at The Officer's Club...and the stories these peices could tell now, more than 50 years later...






































































Madison likes looking at the jewelry, too....