Star Gazing

Late summer nights have been the backdrop of some of my favorite childhood memories. Summer nights that were filled with the sounds of friends and family chatting around the well at my grandparents' place, children playing (maybe a little fighting too), crickets chirping, and the good ol' smell of country, a mixture of grasses, flowers, and the occasional cowpies. The lake behind my house would become still like glass as the blazing sun set behind it. The memories make me smile and feel all warm, happy, and safe inside.

Crazy as life can be, those memories are what I take hold to and look forward to re-creating with my own family. Saturday evening after the sale was all complete and cleaned up we took some time to enjoy our front lawn with my mom and dad. We pulled out the lawn chairs (and an office chair for my dad) and bid adieu to the setting sun as we lit tiki torches, not for the ambient glow, but to keep the mosquitoes away...haha!

Gabe enjoyed himself running from torch to torch trying to touch them and giving Grami a coronary. And, at one point he crawled up in Grami's chair and did some star gazing.

And, of course I had to take some photos. Some are better than others. I'm still learning about lighting, exposure, and what-not with my fancy-pants camera.

And, yes, I realize the blanket my mother has may be misleading about the time and place the photos were taken, but I swear it was just four nights ago, here in Oklahoma where the high that day was 96.

See the pretty stars, Gabe?

There's a big one.

Torch bearer.

Then, I played around with some photo editing.

Gabe liked the stars.

And, I loved the no agenda free Saturday evening to enjoy with my family.

Still so thankful.