I toured West Side Portland last weekend with a 10 year old birthday girl and her friends (limo and funyuns and cupcakes included!) teaching them how to turn off auto flash and work the macro button on their cameras. We also met a very patient man and his dog, who can sing on command.  And a bride and a groom out for their own photoshoot.

The birthday girl wants to be a photographer when she grows up.

Her father’s an accountant.  I’m sure he’ll straighten her out.

…has been in short supply for what seems like an eternity.  So I went in search of some down in Long Beach, California and found all I could ask for and more.

Cold nights in hot tubs and winning at Scrabble…sleds on the driveway and pink puffy jackets….high desert vistas and caves without bats….deer in the backyard and mountains a plenty.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Sometimes the best entertainment at a 7 year old’s soccer game has nothing to do with a black and white ball.

What do barbells, bingo, and the beauty salon have in common?  These cuties.  Thanks to Concepts In Community Living facility in Stephenson, Washington.

A place where a wonderful woman named Grace turns little girls into beautiful swans.