I Bought An Ornamental Pepper Plant And Other Very Short Stories

*Yesterday, when Josh got home I ran to Brookshire's to get salad to go with dinner and as I walked to the produce section I ran into this little set up of Ornamental Pepper plants. I don't know the last time I'd seen one, but there's just something about them that I really like. And I had this vague happy memory of getting one as a child. What kind of weird kid gets an ornamental pepper plant...and is excited about it?...you may ask. The same kind that later, as an adult, runs into one at the supermarket and, feeling that they are inherently happy little plants, buys one and takes it home. And is excited about it again. :) *I've found that one way to get Frazier to smile that does not require me making silly noises and faces, is to put him in his bouncy seat (which he finally fits in well). He really gets excited about the racoon, hedgehog and big blue owl hanging above him. Who knew? * Recently, I bought a new book, "The Nightstand Reader for Children". It's a series, apparently, and there are Nightstand Readers for Men, Women, and then just a general one. Anyway, they're just collections of classic literature and I bought this one because it had some good stuff in it like excertps from Alice In Wonderland, Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, Peter Pan...even something from How to Eat Fried Worms. There are stories like Rip Van Winkle, several of Aesop's Fables, and The Ugly Duckling, and poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Sandburg, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Shakespeare, and Edward Lear and A. A. Milne. And that's not half of it! It's a great compilation, really and I was thrilled to have it. I found it at a discount store for $2.50, but I did see where you can order it on Amazon also. ANYWAY- I recommend it, but I don't recommend reading The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll which begins on page 22. I recalled this poem from sometime in my past, and realized later it was from-DUH- Alice In Wonderland (the Disney movie version no less!), but unfortunately I didn't remember how it ended or I wouldn't have read it outloud to Frazier...not that he understood how sad and morbid it was. (There are several interpretations of the meaning of it...feel free to research on your own.) When you really think about it, it's amazing the number of children's stories and fairy tales and nursery rhymes...that are pretty sad or scary or morbid. Weird, wild stuff.

*AND NOW...a few more Frazier pics! The first is from a failed photoshoot attempt...perhaps I'll try again. I do have some successes from this same day, only with a different outfit and backdrop. But that's another post. Soon, I promise.

*I had a vision today (as I was photographing Frazier because he was smiling...and because he was wearing his monster jammies- which I think are really cute...see picture above) of future Frazier explaining to his shrink that his entire childhood was one perpetual photo shoot. "My mother was obsessed," he'll say. "It was insane." And then, in all seriousness, I put the camera down (briefly) and made him smile and didn't try to capture it. Because I don't think I'll ever forget that gummy smile anyway, and I don't want to look back at all my pictures and realize those are the things I missed...because I was trying so hard to catch them.