Lost
When our younger daughter, now married and mother of Henry, was probably five years old, she wanted to dress up like a clown. We found the brightly-colored wrap and the red, floppy hat. Then I painted her face. When we had completed the costume, she wanted to see herself in the mirror.
As you can see from the photo above, once she saw her reflection, she was not happy, but became worried that she had been completely transformed and wouldn't be able to get back to her normal self. It was a sad and sweet moment when we saw that look on her face. This was not a happy clown.
You'll be happy to know that she did find her former self, grew up, got married, and gave birth to her own child, who will probably never be dressed as a clown.
The Little Fam Today
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Changing the subject, do you have big plans for the Fourth? With the devastating wildfires out west leaving hundreds homeless and the huge storms in the East leaving many without power for days, I'm thinking that this Independence Day may be a sombre occasion for many. With the hot, dry weather conditions, some communities are canceling fireworks altogether.
Kevin and I plan to have a picnic and go with friends to a small, local fireworks display (unless it's canceled). Kevin always makes a huge brown paper bagful of popcorn for the event, and we usually take strawberry Twizzlers and bottled water. When we still drove the Big Blue Truck, we would put our lawn chairs in the back of the truck and sit up there to watch the fireworks. Yes, it's very redneck and it was lots of fun! I don't know if the kids ever watched the fireworks, but they definitely kept their eyes on the dwindling Twizzler supply.
Unlike Big City fireworks displays, the fireworks in our small town are mostly shot off one at a time until toward the end when they extravagantly set off several in quick succession, usually ending with the U.S. flag emblazoned and sputtering against the black sky.
Then we drive home and try to get our terrified dogs on lead so they can go outdoors to do their business between loud bangs, sizzles, and pops of neighborhood fireworks.
Then we drive home and try to get our terrified dogs on lead so they can go outdoors to do their business between loud bangs, sizzles, and pops of neighborhood fireworks.
Poor dogs. They hate freedom and independence.
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Mandarin Orange Spice
21 comments:
That sounds like a very nice thing to do :) I bet the fireworks will be fantastic! I visited Iowa on 4th of July about 10 years ago, and it was a great experience. Everybody was out. Hope you'll have a fantastic time! Have a great day!
Hugs,
Eva
Such a wonderful snapshot and memory of your daughter. Your Independence Day traditions of popcorn, Twizzlers and fireworks sounds like a good time, we are hoping for some rain so we can have fireworks, as of now ours is cancelled.
our dogs hate the pops and whizzes to and so do I. i wish people would go to the fireworks and not do them in their yards next to us. our neighbors have already started a week ago, first it was fire crackers at weird times, then cherry bombs and more firecrackers, and last night the cherry bombs woke me up. they are against the aw here but people do it anyway.
the only plans we have for the 4th is instead of grilling our own burgers we will have a wendy's burger with a frosty. BIG celebration.
forgot to say that is one sad looking face on the little clown. she sure is beautiful now and so is her little one
Oh, I've never seen a clown look so sad before!! lol How cute, what a great shot you got there, Judy!
As for the 4th.. it's supposed to be 113 here.. we're going to hang by the pool and grill - very low key - I doubt we'll even go anywhere, it's just too hot!!
That picture is priceless. It captures so much and really teaches many lessons if one looks hard enough.
I hate how fireworks scare my dogs but I do love the beauty of them. I'm just going to turn the music up really loud and hope the noise doesn't scare them too much!
I think your way of watching fireworks is a GREAT way. We're heading to my sister's house on Wednesday but will be home to watch the fireworks that our neighbors usually set off. There are a couple of neighbors who like to do little shows. Hope you have a nice day! That's a lovely family picture of your daughter!
Face painted clown has such an impact on the young.. Cute family.
What a gorgeous picture of your grown up daughter and family! The clown picture is so poignant - sometimes we get precisely what we wished for, yet somehow it's not quite as we'd imagined it would be ....
This year we got our dog a thunder shirt. It is suppose to help them not feel anxious. Hopefully it will work as she goes pretty wild!
Our big plans are to paint the garage....very exciting. And of course a cookout. Fireworks aren't as much fun in a city as in a small town. Too much of a crush to even get to the fireworks! So we will stay home and try and keep the pup calm.
Fireworks terrify my cats too. No plans for the 4th - just staying home. I love the clown photo - at first I thought it was a clown doll until I looked closer. One year I made a fancy clown costume for my daughter. She loved it.
Lovely picture of your daughter and family. Your pictures are always so great.
At present our region is under a burn-ban so the fireworks will be very limited, but I'm sure the neighborhood children will set off a few. Enjoy your 4th!
Our golden retriever, Buddy, hated fireworks and storms. He was terrified of loud noises. I felt so bad for him. Heck, I'm not fond of loud noises myself. Tucker doesn't like them but he's not scared of them. Besides, I'm always holding him. He's a bit smaller than a golden retriever. LOL That clown picture is so beautiful---so is your daughter! And her family!
Oh Judy, that is the most amazing photo I have ever seen! You need to send that to somebody!! Gage is scared to death of the loud noises, too. He spends most of the day inside shaking and crying and when I try to get him to go out with me to potty (him, not me!) he sits at the door and stares at me like I'm nuts!
I love your blog, it is so beautiful. As is your daughter and her family, absolutely stunning!! I'm glad that someone else puts popped corn in a brown paper bag, my husband still thinks it's weird that I do.
We're in a still new town for the 4th this year so we will be missing celebrating with friends. But I love your idea of a picnic, I may have to do that. And we plan on watching the fireworks show that is very close to our house. Have a wonderful 4th of July!!
Your daughter and her family are beautiful. Just beautiful.
And I hope and pray people are really careful with the fireworks this year.
The west is burning - we are so hot down here - I just hope that people have a safe 4th of July!
sandie
Darling clown daughter, then and now. Happy 4th!
That is a wonderful photo of your daughter as a clown.
Enjoy your 4th of July celebrations. I hate that the fireworks scare the dogs so much. It's the same here for Bonfire night.
I love that picture of your daughter....
I have a silly dog. Clay is terrified by power tools. Just seeing them makes him shake with fear. He is terrified by the air compressor, oh and if the guns are out. Look out. The shaking begins...However, he is not bothered at all by thunder or fireworks. It has me totally confused! My deafie is not bothered at all by fireworks or the power tools. *wink*
I LOVE the clown photo. What a sweet moment captured forever.
Precious photos.
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