summer – Mary Rice's blog

August 4, 2021

All Kinds of Awesome

I’m usually not a fan of photographing newborns in clothes, no matter how cute the clothes are. A simple blanket or swaddle often works best. And so, when driving to Texas a couple weeks ago to meet Will, my new great nephew, I packed a baby blanket I thought would work well for his pictures.

“Waaaaaa, Waaaaaa, WAAAAAAA!!!!!” cried Will as soon as the blanket came out. This, from the baby who reportedly never cries. A diaper change later and we all knew Lil’ Will wasn’t having any part of baby pictures. Photo attempt #1: Fail. Who’s crying now?

Well, not me, because visiting my sister and her family on our first trip to the T & H Farm just north of Austin was awesome. Some highlights – cool treehouse lunches, homemade pear pie a la mode, dogs, cats, goats & more (oh my!), endless hours of coin toss fun with Sam, neighborly nature walks, backyard archery, Lil’ Bit (the smaller of two longhorn neighbors), and periodic thought provoking questions from 11 year old Zane such as, “Do great meals result more from the recipe or the chef?”

By Sunday, the day before we were to drive back home, I had lost hope of photographing baby Will. Then, suddenly out of nowhere (or maybe from upstairs), my awesome, sleep deprived nephew Thad walked by with Will and hurriedly whispered, “I think maybe we can try to get some quick baby pictures now.” Robyn, my equally awesome niece agreed.

So … I flew to the window with camera and flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but

a miniature baby with eight tiny —Oh wait, TEN tiny toes, dear!

Okay, okay, I’ll stop so you can look at the baby pictures.

I could be a little biased but he’s super cute, right? All cuddly 8 pounds, 14 ounces delivered three weeks early?

You know, after thinking a little more about it, I tend to think Will was right in rejecting the baby blanket. I’ve even grown a little partial to the onesie. Can you guess why?

Yep, the label says it all; he’ll fit right in. One could say the onesie fits him to a T…

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please stay well, swell, and awesome.

http://www.maryricephoto.com

July 7, 2019

Farm to Table and Beyond

Well, it’s July, it’s hot, and that means it’s time to jump in the ~~pool~~ briar patch. Say whaaaaat? Yes, it’s time to pick some blackberries!

Forget the swimsuit. It’s time to put on your tall leather boots, your best thorn resistant pants, a big brimmed hat, and a long sleeved shirt you don’t mind ripping to shreds or dowsing with your favorite garden variety (no pun intended) chigger repellant. Mix that repellant with a little hard-earned sweat and you’ll be a soggy mess before you know it. You’re in, right?

So Don, bro-in-law Charles and I went to the family farm Saturday to do us some berry picking. Here’s Charles reaching in to pick that one ripe berry.

What a classy style and fine technique. You see, Charles is actually a blackberry pickin’ master. His parents groomed him as a young child for this moment by taking him to the most challenging blackberry patches around. They were filled not only with berries and chiggers but wasps! Oh how he hated those wasps. So here he is in a wasp free zone pickin’ the low hanging fruit.

Well, hmmmm … what are we to do when the berries are plentiful and we come home with more than we thought we would? Give some to others? Check. Ask Don to make some of his could be award-winning blackberry cobbler? Check. Freeze some? Check. Learn how to make preserves and can some? Working on it.

So this morning I woke up in the mood for baking some homemade blackberry muffins and to document this unusual event I decided to also get out my camera. It seemed like a great time for stock photography because who doesn’t need a little yummy in the tummy AND a little extra income on the side?

So here’s stock photo #1. You’re supposed to forget any aforementioned suggestion of DEET and look at this mouth watering bowl of blackberries and think of such sale worthy keywords as “organic,” “healthy” and “antioxidants.”

healthy bowl of antioxidant packed organic blackberries – yum!

Stock photo #2 is in fact a Pinterest wannabe:

Fresh blackberry muffins as easy as 1, 2, 3

Stock photo #3 is pretty much the same scene but shot at a different angle.

Fresh blackberries to be folded into muffin batter

Stock photo #4 is the finished product – homemade muffins on a plate Scott made in kindergarten. Aw …

Blackberry muffins served on a handmade polka dot plate

So what are we baking up next? Well, I think perhaps in honor of that time honored British lawn tennis tourney known as Wimbledon, we’ll be serving up blackberry lemon scones at tea time. You may have to follow me on Instagram @maryricephoto to see if they really pan out.

Thanks for grinnin’ and pickin’ my blog. Happy summer ya’ll.

September 22, 2018

Zane at 8

Last weekend we were treated to a return visit from our niece Robyn, her husband Thad, & their sons Zane (8) and Sam (4). They previously had come in April to run the 1/2 marathon and during the race, Don had taken the boys fishing. Before this visit, Robyn had texted that Zane and Sam wanted to go fishing again with Uncle Don.

So on Saturday morning, when Robyn and Thad left for a few hours to attend a teacher’s conference, Don and I (and Betsy who was home from Florence-weary South Carolina), headed to our neighborhood lake with fishing poles, crickets, and a cooler.

Now for those of you who think summer ends when school starts, think again. Today is actually the last official day of summer, and rest assured, it was a very summery day last Saturday morning in Nashville. Think sunny, humid, and 90+ degrees.

Unfortunately, early attempts at finding a fishing spot in the shade where the fish were biting failed. Exit Betsy.

“The boys” and Don were on a serious mission though and kept trying. Here you see them, a little fatigued but still determined, halfway around the lake.

No luck.

So they had no choice but to try the dam, which as you might tell from the image below, was in full sun and blazing hot.

You gotta love Uncle Don’s Huck Finn style hat and brim.

Wait, did I just say bream?

I did!

As soon as Zane could cast his line, he was reeling in the bream, one right after the other. He told us his goal was to catch eight. He didn’t say why but it was clear he wasn’t leaving, no matter what, until he had caught eight.

But wait. What about ‘lil bro Sam? Well, about the time we got to the hot dam (I’ve always wanted to use that term in the proper context) I sensed Sam had about had it, so we found a picnic table under some shade trees about 20 yards away for a different kind of fish experience.

Well, it seems Sam loves to snack (“graze”) and after two juice boxes, 1/2 bag of goldfish and a bottle of water, things were starting to look up. Sam, in fact, was smiling up at me from under the table. So I grabbed my camera but didn’t like shooting through the table so I asked him if he could come back up. He then assumed this pose:

Okay, I have to admit, I really love this photograph.

Sam and I continued to talk. I asked,

“So what was the favorite thing you did this summer?”

He answered, “swimming.”

I asked, “Do you know how to swim yet?”

He answered, “no, but Zane is teaching me.”

I said, “That’s nice. Zane is a great big brother, isn’t he?”

Sam nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

We went on to talk about Pokemon, Daniel the Tiger, and Paw Patrol.

Soon we heard Zane yell excitedly “I did it! I did it! I caught eight fish!” Sam and I went over to congratulate him.

Okay! Mission accomplished. Time to head home.

As we were walking back home, Don said he started comparing the day’s fishing to the fishing in April. When home, Don whispered to me, “Last spring, Sam caught 7 and Zane 3.”

I smiled.

DSCF1030w6 — Bragging rights: Zane & fish #8

That little smile? Priceless.

Thanks for following my blog and sharing in one of our sweet end of summer memories.