Flash Back Friday 149

1950's: Uncle Alan, Uncle John, Oma Boyer, Mom & her friend Mary Jo

A Royal Coat

When I was at home for Christmas, Mom, AKA the Queen Mother, showed me the coat she had just made out of some left-over upholstery from her art teacher and she modeled it for me. Pretty awesome!

And she really does look like a model!

The QUEEN Mum

This past weekend as I was working on edits for Lindsay's wedding, I came across this gorgeous photo of the Queen Mother which I took at the wedding!



I also came across this photo of my mom & dad. I thought some of you might like to see where I came from :)

What to Do on a Rainy Day When Stranded on an Island

Take photos in the rain.

Try to make it to the grocery store to buy cheetos. If you get stranded on the porch for awhile, you just pose for pictures. (Bring a photographer along and you will always have fun)


Eat the cheetos with grandma on the couch while watching Julia Child on TV.

The rain turned out to be a good thing! It did clear up. The following photos are posted especially for Sharon who wanted to see more of the island and maybe not so much of the babes on the island.

The yellow building with the green roof is Kelleys Island Venture Resort, the hotel built by my dad and his partners.

Maria, Bridget & the Queen Mother head back to the mainland on the ferry!

A Slice of the Island Get-away

One evening whilst on the island, we decided to go out for pizza. Dad had already gone back home, so it was just us girls. What made it exciting was we could order a white pizza with spinach on it since we had no great desire for meat. I took advantage of the wait time outside to do some casual photographs so we could hold on to the memory.

Maria finally expressed her frustration at having a photographer for a mother! She felt like she was continually surrounded by the paparazzi.



So she decided to give me a taste of my own medicine.



I didn't think it was that bad!

MDW Island Retreat

This past weekend, I went on an MDW with Maria and Bridget. MDW is Bridget's name for our mother-daughter weekend. We went to Kelleys Island in Lake Erie and stayed at my mom & dad's condo there. Mom had told me that we would be on island time there and it was true! We felt like a whole week had been lived in the span of a weekend! We had a wonderful time!

We had fun with mom & dad... we saw some awesome sunflowers and had white pizza and watched Julia Child bake bread on the Create channel and heard about the Living Bread in the little island church and took pix in the rain and rode big yellow bikes and went swimming in the new pool and and ate lots of ice cream and did the O-H-I-O cheer and Hung on Sloopy...

Today, I'll post some sunflower photos:

The Queen Mother at the Beach

It was a hazy day at the beach and mom & I decided to try to get some cool pix.

Happy Birthday Queen Mother!!!

Mom with her dearly beloved Beatrix

Flash Back Friday 118

A Nellie Tea party with Grandma (aka the Queen Mother) a few years ago

Flash Back Friday 111

The Queen Mother, 1950's

Happy 47th!

You just take my age and add one... Happy anniversary to my dear mother & father!!!

Flash Back Friday 94

Edward & Maria with the Queen Mother, 1992

My Childhood Home

The Queen Mother's Estate, August 2008

The Queen Mother recently sent me these pictures of the work they have done behind their home in Celeryville which is the result of her and her Consort's love of gardening and architecture. What a nice place to come home to!

Flash Back Friday 74

June, 2005, Edward with Opa & Grandma

We're leaving for the Outer Banks tomorrow morning, so I thought I should post a flash back from there. Edward is staying home to work, but he'll be with us in spirit!

Walking on the Beach

Maria, June 2006

When the Queen Mother was here for Edward's graduation, she presented Maria with a very special birthday present. Below you can see her watercolor interpretation of the photo above. This is something I think she will treasure for years to come!


Maria with watercolor by Grandma, May 2008

Pretty Purple Petunias

I captured this moments before a scattered thundershower hit the deck

Today,,, we are getting ready for Edward's graduation open house on Sunday. We've actually been getting ready all week and I realized I have taken virtually no pictures. so I stepped out this morning to photograph the petunias on our deck.

We will be welcoming a contingent from Celeryville this afternoon which is always exciting. Yes, the Queen Mother will be among them.

Netherlands Nuesday 29

Queen Mother with Bouquet 2

A Royal Birthday

The Queen Mother with her new baby Beatrix

Today, I wondered what could possibly follow on the heels of yesterday's post, but then I realized the date - set in stone forever - it's my mom's birthday!

Happy Birthday dear mother from afar! Hope you're having fun.

Flash Back Friday 55

The Queen Mother, 1950's

Flash Back Friday 53

The Queen Mother taking pictures, 1984.
Photo by Alan Boyer


For some reason, this one reminds me of Anne Murray.

Home Sweet Home

One of my goals for this year is to get this house whipped into shape. Part of this involves putting pictures up on the wall. The holiday yesterday gave us the perfect opportunity to work on this: John told me it doesn't take a rocket scientist (ie. him) to do it, but yet. I wanted his input. These photos which I took of Edward, Maria & Bridget(above) last summer are now above the computer so I can stare at them whilst I blog. I'm happy with them. It actually looks like someone lives here now.

The Queen Mother has hassled me :) for years about the Picasso we had up in our living room. It is from his Blue period and I have always liked it but she didn't think it was "pretty" enough for a living area. I am glad to say I will continue to like it in my bedroom where we have blue walls. We also put up a print from Cape Cod and other pictures. In all we hung 13 pictures so I guess we're here to stay now.



The sad little blue man was replaced by the tulips painted by HRH.

Waiting for Santa?

The Blogger having Chrismas coffee with the Queen Mother


I get about a D minus for packing for this trip to Celeryville, but that's what I get for being woken up and rushed out the door yesterday to beat the storm. For the first time in about 27 years of coming to Celeryville for Christmas, I forgot my underwear! I think my Aunt Michaela would be more than amused to learn that I was able to get a 3-pack from Drug Mart for $2.99! This morning, I discovered I had also forgotten my deodorant, hairbrush and blow dryer. I must have thought I was going for a hike on the Appalachian trail or a 5-star resort where everything is provided. I was able to find everything I needed here, so I'm not exactly roughing it.