Thanks for looking through my pictures.  I hope you enjoyed them!!

So what is new with me?  Hmmm...apparently once I dive into one creative venture (photography) I shun my other creative ventures (writing).  That's ok, I totally needed to immerse myself in photography.  I've gotten quite good at photo manipulation in Photoshop.  My photography skills & knowledge have improved.  I've done a couple of photo shoots for cash money (nothing earth shattering but nice nonetheless).  I'm taking it slow & easy at this point.

This summer had gone by all too uickly.  If you were to ask me what had happened this summer I'd be hard pressed to say much.  My husband quit his primary job a few weeks ago, he was sorta forced into it....(long story for another time).  It's a bit depressing but God knows he's found another job already.  The only issue is that benefits cost more and the loss of a differential for working only weekends is going to make us hurt a bit.  For awhile anyway.

My SIL was diagnosed with stage I grade III breast cancer.  Currently she is undergoing chemotherapy and will proceed to radiation after that only to return back to a round of chemo.  I went wig shopping with her last week, it was really quite depressing.

My neighbor friend, Mary Ann, passed away suddenly at the end of June.  I still feel like we're reeling from that hit.  She was a lovely lady, kind hearted, my girls absolutely loved her.  She is missed.

We have new neighbors (sex in the sideyard girl moved out in July--THANK GOD).  They have 2 little girls.  I think they're as close to happiness in a set of neighbors as we could ask for.  Maddie loves having older girls (7 & 9-years old) to look up to.  Lauren too.

Maddie started kindergarten this past week.  Very emotionally wrenching this past few months has been.  Always some sort of drama going on.  Perhaps I do know what I've been doing all summer, I've been mired down with depressing news & miserable events.  Not all of them, really, Maddie going to kindergarten is a good thing but it is a bit depressing as how quickly my children are growing.

Speaking of the "progression of life".  Did any of you catch Six Feet Under's series' finale this past week? I have watched the last 10 minutes over & over & over & over again.  Everytime I do so, I have tears streaming down my face.  What a great show.

Wow.  So I did have stuff to talk about.  Looky that.  <smooches> to my Xangans.  I have really missed you and I promise to become a better Xangan now that the summer is winding down.

So little deer makes his/her way over to the corner area near our front porch/garage.  It's north facing so we assumed that she got overheated in the southernly sun.  She sat there for the greater part of the day.

Later that afternoon we noticed the mama looking for her.  Apparently, according to the forest preserve district of our county, mother deer often will drop off fawns in areas they don't think a predator will get to them.  So mama's out looking in the backyard area (my neighbor's yard butts up to ours so althought there is three houses sharing a sort of common area we have a lot of open space there).  She's looking and looking.  Mind you, we never see deer out during the middle of the day.  So I figure she won't find baby fawn ANYWHERE near where baby fawn is lying down so I run outside and put the baby down in our side yard between my next door neighbor's home and mine.  Meanwhile my other neighbor spooks mama by opening her patio door to try to snap a photo so mama deer runs off.

Baby lies there in the common area by herself.  I am freaking out because she's in the sun and not getting up but then again I didn't want to mover her because I *thought* the mama saw her.

I had to go take a nap (I was working that night) so when I awoke I didn't see baby fawn in the side yard.  I went to work happily, thinking baby fawn was safe with mama.  Worked all night and excitedly went to my side yard looking to see evidence of baby being gone (I don't know what I expected).  Instead I found baby fawn in my neighbor's bushes, lying dead, like she'd been there a number of hours.  The wet area on her butt just being eaten (and nastily I might add) by flies.  I forgot to mention that we speculated that the baby fawn was a newborn because her back end was matted down and wet in appearance.  Now that I look back I think something got to her and she died from that.

So I was sad.  My neighbor had the fawn picked up by ?I don't know who? somebody who deals with that sort of thing.  And I thought that was that.

Later that afternoon I looked out my patio door and saw:

So little deer makes his/her way over to the corner area near our front porch/garage.  It's north facing so we assumed that she got overheated in the southernly sun.  She sat there for the greater part of the day.

Later that afternoon we noticed the mama looking for her.  Apparently, according to the forest preserve district of our county, mother deer often will drop off fawns in areas they don't think a predator will get to them.  So mama's out looking in the backyard area (my neighbor's yard butts up to ours so althought there is three houses sharing a sort of common area we have a lot of open space there).  She's looking and looking.  Mind you, we never see deer out during the middle of the day.  So I figure she won't find baby fawn ANYWHERE near where baby fawn is lying down so I run outside and put the baby down in our side yard between my next door neighbor's home and mine.  Meanwhile my other neighbor spooks mama by opening her patio door to try to snap a photo so mama deer runs off.

Baby lies there in the common area by herself.  I am freaking out because she's in the sun and not getting up but then again I didn't want to mover her because I *thought* the mama saw her.

I had to go take a nap (I was working that night) so when I awoke I didn't see baby fawn in the side yard.  I went to work happily, thinking baby fawn was safe with mama.  Worked all night and excitedly went to my side yard looking to see evidence of baby being gone (I don't know what I expected).  Instead I found baby fawn in my neighbor's bushes, lying dead, like she'd been there a number of hours.  The wet area on her butt just being eaten (and nastily I might add) by flies.  I forgot to mention that we speculated that the baby fawn was a newborn because her back end was matted down and wet in appearance.  Now that I look back I think something got to her and she died from that.

So I was sad.  My neighbor had the fawn picked up by ?I don't know who? somebody who deals with that sort of thing.  And I thought that was that.

Later that afternoon I looked out my patio door and saw: