Some underwater shots taken with my little Olympus point and shoot that Chris recommended years ago at Southeastern Camera. First time using it in water, this week in Miami. The plusses at the time of purchase: 1. you COULD use it under water and 2. you could drop it from 5 feet and it would still work. A big plus for me. So instead I dropped my Olympus SLR on the bus to the hotel in San Francisco in October of 2008. We were there for my first show at George Lawson Gallery. All my pictures of the opening are out of focus. That camera was not built to be dropped. Three weeks and a few hundred dollars later it was fixed. But I digress....

More shots of Miami Beach - walking to the design museum, the elevator gargoyle there, as well as a side window with a view of the city beyond, Ronja and Jeannette in the museum cafe.

More photos of our 3 days in Miami. Some views from the car, on our walk in Miami Beach (2 blocks only, from the garage to the museum; TOO hot!).

Wonderful, amazing visit to Jeannette, Stephan and Ronja in Miami. Marie and Laura are in Europe for the summer, so it was just the three of them, plus Claire and me. Some photos:

Jelly bracelets on the plane.

Claire at breakfast.

Breakfast table. The BEST almond croissant I have ever had.

Ronja.

Jeannette making waffles for lunch.

Ronja asleep.

With last Sunday's heat and humidity, all I could do was stay inside, oh, and travel to Southpoint with Claire, on her insistence, in search of an earring holder for a graduation gift, at her namesake store. Always a bit of a shock to see her name at Southpoint in big letters on a storefront. We thought it so special and unusual 14 years ago. Off we went, the car thermometer reading 97 when we got to the dreaded no-shade parking lot, little puffy white clouds in a blue sky. 45 minutes later, after stopping in at Charlotte Russe (all French names these stores that Claire loves) where both mother and daughter purchased items, and then going to CLAIRE'S and finding the perfect device for her jewelry, walking down the halls of Southpoint searching for yet another store for her to browse in, we noticed a dark dark sky through the windows above. We ran to the car and closed the door RIGHT at the first clap of thunder. We had left the windows open a bit, so as not to come back to a much too overheated black car with black interior. Perfect timing; got the windows closed and drove off in what was now showing as 73 degree heat, a 24 degree drop! Amazing. That was some of the hardest rain I have driven in, comparable, I think, to the hard driving rain on a white white highway with Claire nervous in the back seat, Allen next to me in front and me at the wheel, leaving the Grand Canyon 2 summers ago; and here we were on 40, no less (not my favorite road to drive on, even on a sunny day). This time Claire was in front with me, giving me advice, mostly, to slow down. We made it home, where Allen, on our phoned-in request, had left 2 umbrellas in the garage. A little adventure for the graduate and her mom!

Some photos of Ellis I found going through thousands and thousands of images in my iPhoto. These are from some time last year.

Newly minted Carolina Friends Middle School graduate.

Amazing, amazing Friends School event, where they ask folks not to videotape or photograph what is their final "meeting for worship" (silent time where anyone who is so moved to "quake" [hence, Quaker] and speak from the heart, can) except when your child was being spoken to by their advisor. Then you could document. They had found that the kids would not feel free to speak from their hearts if someone was recording it. "Oh, I'm not going to need tissues" I said at the beginning, passing the box they had left on a seat near me. HaH! I cried my eyes out, particularly when Claire spoke about how much she loved and would miss her advisee group. Her advisor was pitch perfect with her; not mentioning the troubles she's had, only talking about how she is the heart and soul of the group, how she sets him straight, how she laughs, how she's such a good friend to her fellow "advisees". So wonderful to hear all the teachers speak about their kids, to know that Claire has been in such a place, and that she gets to continue there. I felt terribly lucky today.