Miscellaneous Monday

Good morning, class.

I appreciate your patience with my wildly irregular posting these days. And by ‘these days,’ I mean the entire last year since I have moved to Bell Buckle.

To tell you the truth, I have given occasional serious thought to shuttering the doors of Babybloomr for good, only because when I don’t post regularly, I feel really bad about it. Yes, yes, I know that kind of guilt is not rooted in any kind of reality, and that the intrawebs and world at large are not putting their lives on hold and breathlessly awaiting my next little scrap of brilliance or declaring a National Day of Mourning when I don’t post,  but before you get up on your hind legs and start yelling, “Narcissist!” at me, let me explain my blog-guilt by reminding you that I was raised by a couple of those Greatest Generation-type parents whose word was their bond, etc., so I have been embedded with a somewhat overactive sense of responsibility and duty and whatnot. I’m not saying I always act on it, I just have enough of it rolling around in my head to make me feel shiftless and no ‘count when I shirk. (Side note: “Shirk” is one of those words that just all of sudden sounds completely ridiculous when you say it out loud. Try it– shirk shirk shirk. See? Weird. But I digress.) (Also, if the second sentence in this paragraph doesn’t qualify me for some kind of “Longest Run-On Sentence of 2014″ award, there is no justice in the world.)

Anyway. One of the rules of blogging is that regular posting is the key to building and keeping your readership, and though I have blown THAT rule all to hell and back this year, I have decided to cut myself some slack and A) not worry so much about what I’m not doing “right” and B) reconnect with my beloved ‘Bloomr Nation one post at a time, whenever and however they decide to spring forth from my ever-fertile brain. And also, C) JUST POST MORE OFTEN, Tori, sheesh.

Are we on the same page here? Your thoughts?

Meanwhile, back at today’s post. Here’s what I felt like sharing today: (“Sharing?” Really? I’m a small group leader all of a sudden?)

I’m thinking images… (also known as pictures.) A veritable potpourri, if you will, of miscellaneous things to look at for no good reason that will somehow manage not to fall under the heading of Time-Suck Tuesday material, because that’s like, a whole different thing. Kinda.

Ya with me? Here we go!

**Vintage photo of the Bell Buckle train depot

1bell buckle depot

 

**Charlotte is that small figure on the left. She is climbing a waterfall. (I wasn’t there, otherwise this photo would also feature a middle-aged woman dangling precariously from a tree branch desperately trying to ‘spot’ Charlotte.)

1char:falls

**Russ and Bill attempting a selfie. I love this about 30 different ways.

1selfie

**Madi Rose’s summer job– she gives tours at the historic Sam Davis House Museum. She has wanted to do this since she was 9 and toured the Hermitage for the first time. I had to explain that they didn’t usually hire 9 year old docents. Took a few years, but she finally gets to wear a hoop skirt to work.

1costume madi

 

**Speaking of jobs– I love doing Homecoming Radio.

1HCRme

 

** And finally, here are some gorgeous pictures with an interesting back-story (courtesy of Viralworld):

“Kirsty Mitchell is photographer from Kent, England who creates dream-worthy images that are imaginative and elaborately staged with costumes, make-up, and special effects. After losing her mother to breast cancer, photography became a coping mechanism to make sense of her loss.

She writes in her biography page about the role in photography in her life: “Photography became my only escape when I could no longer talk about how I felt. It became an utter fantasy that blocked out the real world, and a place where I could return to my memories of her, far away from those hospitals walls.”

Mitchell has a background in fashion, costume design and photography which shines through in the photographs – they’re all beautifully detailed and intricate.”

1fantsy21fantasy11fantasy41fantsy3

Beautiful, right?

 

11 Responses

  1. rachelbaker

    1. I would never yell ‘narcissist’ because I genuinely am breathlessly awaiting a new scrap of brilliance from you.
    2. If you dare ever shutter the doors of babybloomr for good the mourning would be beyond your imagination, and forgiveness would be slow in coming.
    3. I LOVE that Madi is living her dream, we should all try that sometimes.
    4. Hello!!! I’ve missed you,

  2. rachelbaker

    Oh, and 5. ”Shirk’ is a great word … have you ever watched British comedy programme ‘Miranda’ – she’d like that word!

  3. babygirl

    I adore all of these photos, and this may just be one of my favorite blog posts. Thank you for always making me smile out loud.

  4. auburn60

    OK, first: just post whenever you can and we’ll still be here waiting to be edified. (Edified. That “small group leader” thing is catching). As they tell latecomers at my in-laws church: “If you can’t get here on time just come when you can.” Said in kind of a snarky tone. So really, kind of rude.

    Second: I’ve given serious thought to just showing up at Sam Davis one day this summer and hanging back in a tour group to see if Madi notices. Think that would be fun? And should I be crocheting a snood for her?

    Third: Where else can you find a blog with words like “shirk”, “snood”, “edify”, “docent”, and ‘time-suck”? I rest my case. Whatever point I was trying to make.

  5. bettyrwoodward

    Please, please, please don’t stop blogging. Just do it when you can.
    Love the waterfall picture.
    As Rachel says it’s great that Madi is living her dream. Our Hannah also 9 wants to be a Disney princess I wonder if she will make it as well!

  6. DonnaMariePatterson

    Well, shoot! I guess if you have to carry around all that guilt for not blogging enough and keeping us entertained, then I’m gonna have to feel all guilty when I don’t immediately comment on all of your blogs which, in turn, inspires you to transcend to comedic levels of writing that can’t help but to tickle my funny bone until I’m snorting welllllll (trying to think of more words to make this sentence longer than your’s)

    Anyway…….thanks for not shuttering the doors …..for sharing your life ….. making me laugh ….. and giving of YOUR TIME to us out here in Babybloomr Land!!!! Yay for Madi! So proud of her! Kirsty Mitchell – I was mesmerized and in awe of where her pain led her.

  7. ladymon

    Here’s a different perspective to try on…. I “discovered” you last Sunday after doing a Sunday-morning-coffee-while-everyone-else-is-asleep google search on the term “midlife epiphany”. I decided that’s what I’ve been in the middle of. Not a crisis. It took me to a blog which referenced the blogs she read regularly. I had no idea this whole world was out there!!!!

    Anyway, I started clicking on them and checking them out. Then I found someone who shared a brain with me. Those old gospel album covers accompanied by such deliciously snarky commentary had me singing the Hallellujiah (sp?) chorus. I found a kindred spirit!!!

    Tori, I’ve been working my way through your archives! I’m up to March 2010. This is the most fun I’ve had in a loooong time! That whole post about the inner tube around the tummy that seems like a reverse fanny pack but there’s no zipper – OMIGOD!! I had tears streaming down my face.

    Laughing is clearly good for the soul and my family has noted my elevated mood all week.

    So time between your current posts gives us newbies a fighting chance to keep up!

    Thanks for sharing your gift!

    Monica

  8. Gramma Jac

    Auburn60–you added “snarky” to the word list–right up there with shirk!!

    Ladymon, we welcome you to the Bloomr Nation. We, the faithful citizens, love our queen and don’t mind if she posts less often as long as we know she’s OK. When she blogs, there is great rejoicing in the land!

    Maybe the hoop skirt could become our national dress,…naw, I much prefer my jeans!

    Love you all!!! Tori, don’t you EVER shut down or,…. well, I don’t know “or what”,…but it would be BAD! LOL!

  9. tori

    Well, FIDDLE DEE DEE! (That’s a reference to Madi’s outfit– I’m going for a theme here– see how I did that?)

    OK you guys, I SWEAR when I mused out loud about my bloggy guilt issues I wasn’t doing one of those things that people do on Facebook/Twitter/etc. where they make a dramatic sweeping announcement like, “I have had it! Nobody cares about me, so I am leaving Facebook/Twitter/etc. FOREVER! Don’t try to stop me!” –and then they lurk around for hours waiting for people to say, “No, please, don’t leave, we love you…” before they allow themselves to be graciously persuaded to stay… I can’t imagine EVER not being part of this wackadoodle community we formed here– but honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m doing such a half-assed job of it lately that I’m kind of letting you guys down. (Delusions of Grandeur, party of one!)

    Anyway. Forget I mentioned it. Let’s just leave it at this:

    http://olivethepeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/i-love-you-man.gif

  10. LindaB

    Tori, just delete the guilt and write when you can and we’ll be happy.

    Shirk. Shirk. Shirk. Sounds like a cordless hand held vacuum cleaner.

    How is your back and your vertigo?

    Love Madi’s new “look”! She looks so pretty and antebellum! And I learned a new word—–“docent”! I would have guessed that it’s something deer hunters use to attract bucks, but I would have been wrong. I looked it up. Your blog is so educational.

    Welcome Monica! Glad you joined us! You’re gonna need a box of tissues handy as you read through Tori’s blog——she’ll have you laughing out loud one minute and sobbing the next! You’re gonna love her!

  11. SusieIsNana

    Oh, Tori, you ARE a trip!! (Not saying where to…) I love reading your posts. You have such a goofy, zany (same thing?), somewhere-out-there personality & writing style, it’s impossible to NOT smile my way thru the whole thing. Keep on keepin’ on…I’m pretty sure there’s an old cheer in that one!!! Love ya & will def miss you this wknd but one of these days I’m gonna show up in your Bell Buckle to see The Queen!

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