Photo a Day – June 6 – Hat: One of my favorite books to read out loud.

Photo a Day – June 7 – Drink: Our cat Lily (the black one—the cat in the photo above is Katy) is over 16 years old. She’s in the very early stages of renal failure, but overall still quite healthy for such an elderly cat. We know this, because we’ve taken her to the vet several times in the past year to see if there are any physical reasons why she keeps peeing on every blanket and towel and piece of laundry that gets left on the floor, not to mention all our rugs. What we’ve been told, repeatedly, is that there aren’t any physical reasons. It’s behavioral. Also, she’s high-strung, so here, give her this Prozac. (Yes, really. Our cat is on Prozac. For the third time in her life, bless her anxious little heart.) Oh well. At least she mostly pees on things we can throw in the washing machine.

One of the things that is helpful for cats having problems with their kidneys is to make sure they drink lots of fresh water. Hence, the new fancy-pants cat drinking fountain. Both the cats seem to love it. And Elliora has developed a fun new habit of seeing what items she can sneak into the bubbling water without me noticing.

Photo a Day – June 8 – Six o’clock: I’m pretty good at making chocolate-chip cookies. But when I read Stella’s suggestions for making better chocolate-chip cookies, I definitely learned a thing or five. I incorporated suggestions 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 into this batch, and the results were delicious. And pretty to look at, too!

Like everyone else with a smartphone and an Instagram account, I don’t use my DSLR camera much these days. Partly because it’s big and clunky to carry around all the time, and partly because I’m very, very behind on doing anything with my photos. I have almost two months’ worth of photos—including our trip to Omaha, Annalie’s birthday, my mom and Aurora’s visit to DC, a couple of friends’ birthday parties—waiting to be edited and uploaded to Flickr. I’m reluctant to add any more to that pile, so I take photos with my phone instead, and Instagram them.

I rolled my eyes at all the Instagram/Hipstamatic people for a long time, but I totally get it now. It’s so easy and immediately gratifying! I can upload photos to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook with just a few clicks! My only complaint is that there isn’t a way to upload photos from Instagram on Android (even though there is on iPhone) to Flickr. So I tend to forget about Flickr.

I’ve been remembering to upload my June Photo a Day shots to Flickr, but I have not kept up with the other ones, which is why I just bombed Flickr with a couple dozen photos today. Wanna see them? Keep reading.

This is what it looks like when Annalie voluntarily cleans her room, all by herself. She even cleaned off the top of her dresser! She dumped out all her dresser drawers and completely reorganized them, setting aside some outgrown clothes for Elliora and some to send to Bug. This has happened not once but twice since her birthday. So far, I love eight.

Elliora surprised us at dinner the other day when she picked up her fork and ate her rice with it instead of her hands.

One of a few self-portraits Elliora has taken with my phone lately. She’s pretty good! Think she should join 7 Days? (Just kidding.) And E’s first time eating (and loving) corn on the cob. Pinky raised, like a proper lady.

I love this drawing of our house that Annalie did. It’s fairly accurate, right down to the gel gems in the big picture window. Katy hasn’t been up on our roof lately, though.

Isn’t this tree pretty? This chestnut tree is the bane of my backyard. I call it Smelly McStinktree. Right at the time of year when the weather is the most gorgeous and we want to be outside on the deck all day, the chestnut trees blossom and smell so sickly sweet that I want to gag every time I catch a whiff. In the fall, the prickly chestnuts fall all over our backyard, like little landmines waiting to trip you up and make you twist your ankle. Sigh.

I squint in disapproval at your stink, tree.

Roasted broccoli thief.

Letting Sonja see what kind of progress I’m making on Baby Corbin’s hexagon blanket. And showing Rainbow that I was talking to her from the pay phone in our basement.

Elliora ate lunch at the little table with Annalie for the first time the other day. She was pretty excited about it. And Annalie was pretty excited about the arrival of the next Avatar: The Last Airbender comic.

I’m a sucker for big-sky shots, especially with lots of clouds.

We were out on the deck the other day, playing in the pool, when it suddenly started raining. Elliora was a bit freaked out, so Annalie just scooped her into her lap, wrapped them both up in a towel, and quietly reassured her. I think I’m still Elliora’s favorite person, just barely, but once we’re done breastfeeding I’m pretty sure Annalie is going to tie with Daddy for the top spot.

Artist at work! Elliora seems to have finally figured out how to scribble, and she likes doing it. A lot.

We had dinner at a new restaurant tonight, a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that specializes in healthy food. (There are big signs in the window proclaiming that they only cook with fresh vegetables and never use MSG.) Everything we tried was delicious, and the owner was super friendly. Elliora, as usual, ate the spicy tofu from Troy’s soup, rice, broccoli, chicken, onion, and lo mein noodles. The big surprise of the meal was when Miss “Just Egg Drop Soup And Steamed Rice For Me, Thanks” said, “Hey Mom, do you mind if I try some of your chicken lo mein? It looks good.” She ate about half of it before she was done, exclaiming over how delicious it was. And then we got to see a pretty sunset on our way home. It was a nice way to start the weekend.

As Brenda said, if you squint, the streetlight kind of looks like a tall palm tree!

ILY, a photo by bethany actually on Flickr.

When my brother and I were kids, my mom used the ASL sign for “I love you” (hand, palm facing out; thumb, pointer finger, and pinky all extended; middle finger and ring finger folded down to touch the palm—a combination of the signs for the letters I, L, and Y) all the time with us. When Annalie was old enough, I taught it to her. We use it with each other as a way of checking in, of saying, “Hey, I’m glad you’re alive!” or “Remember that no matter how much I’m annoying you right now, I’m doing the best I can and I care about you.”

O hai, eye., a photo by bethany actually on Flickr.

Day 4: close-up. You can’t get much closer-up than this.