Again--The Most Beautiful Girl on the Planet...

...hands down.

Random Saturday on the Back End of Winter

Another blessed Saturday...having time to spend with Tilly (instead of shooting a wedding or whatever can become of a random winter weekend.

Bliss: starting the day at Cupcake, and ending it with some lamb chops. Tilly loved the rack of lamb, as could only be expected of a little growing Aussie.

Unexpected Snow Day

At LSS we got the day off Monday because of the blizzard. After some shoveling and errands in the morning, I ran out to Menards and got a sled for Tilly. Here are some pics, and an essay I wrote about the day.

The morning of my marginal Monday started with a re-clearing of the driveway and parking area in back of our house. Whenever the weather gods make it feasible and necessary, I do one round of shoveling at night and another the next morning to move my body more than once (and to stay ahead of the snow, too.)


Once I could leave the house, I took back streets through the Midway to Menards (to avoid University Avenue and the surreal commencement of LRT construction in the middle of a blizzard on a Federal holiday) and purchased a $9.98 molded plastic toddler sled. We've been wanting one for Tilly all winter and they had about 6 left in stock.


Now finally able to navigate the stretches of sidewalk that certain neighbors never shovel in a timely way, we pulled Tilly in her slick, shiny blue sled up Como Ave to Speedy Market, where we turned left down Doswell and wound our way to College Park.


Tilly made her first two baby luge runs on the near side of the park, where the pitch of the bowl isn't as steep. As she quickly grew obviously bored with that kiddie hill, we took her to the far/eastern Carter Avenue side where the older kids (and their children) were bombing down what they call Suicide Hill.


I took Tilly almost all the way to the top and gently nudged her down our local Black Diamond. By the time she had rocketed to meet her mother at the bottom, she was squealing, laughing and saying "Again! Again! Again!" in her 22-month-old dialect.

After a few more trips up to the top and back down again (including Emma and I each trying an inglorious run on the $2 plastic roll up sled that Menards also had in stock) we went to Dunn Brothers for hot chocolate.


Tilly attacked her drink like she was bobbing for (non-existent) whipped-cream-and-chocolate covered apples. Once she finished inhaling all the whipped cream and chocolate that didn't stick to her face, she turned to mixing glasses of water into her cup, dumping that concoction on to the table, splatting it with her hand and watching it run over the lip of the glass table top and into the linen table cloth underneath. Finally, she began tearing the petals off the tulips in the small vase on our table, at which time we knew it was time to get back home.


But the most photogenic part of the day happened on the way home. By the time we were past Speedy Market again on the way home, Tilly had fallen asleep in the sled! She rode out the last 2-3 blocks slumped to one side, snoring (!), oblivious to the fluffy snow that was covering her bright pink mittens.


I have photos to prove all of this. I just didn't have time to get them edited and posted on line in time to share them in lieu of this novella.

A Day In The Life

Just an other day.

1) Smear Vaseline all over oneself's head.

2) Sit in the 11 inches of snow and look cute.

Leopards and Tigers and Bears Oh My

Tilly and I took advantage of the warm weather today to go to the Minnesota Zoo. She was annoyed that the moose weren't outside, but seemed to enjoy the rest of what we saw.