The grass is greener over here...let's Listen to them Grow

There is a song that Pink Martini sings called Splendor in the Grass. The lyrics touched me because it seemed to reflect my life from beginning to end. The words go like this:

I can see you're thinking baby
I've been thinking too
about the way we used to be
and how to start anew.

Maybe I'm a hopeless dreamer
maybe I've got it wrong
but I'm going where the grass is green
if you'd like to come along.

Back when I was starting out
I always wanted more
but every time I got it
I still felt just like before.

Fortune is a fickle friend
I'm tired of chasing fate
and when I look into your eyes
I know you feel the same.

All these years of living large
are starting to do us in
I won't say it wasn't fun
but now it has to end.

Life is moving oh so fast
I think we should take it slow
rest our heads upon the grass
and listen to it grow.

Going where the hills are green
and the cars are few and far
days are full of splendor
and at night you can see the stars.

Read more: Pink Martini - Splendor In The Grass Lyrics | MetroLyrics

I took this video over the summer. My sixteen year old granddaughter joined me on several days. Six children is a lot to handle so she helped out. I loved those days particularly.

Elena played Duplo set with the boys.

We planted beans and they were up in less then ten days.

The walk in the park is part of the video you see above.

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Special thank you to Takes, the video app. for iPhone. It allowed me to do the day with grandchildren sequence in the middle of the video. It is one of my favorite parts.

Christmas reduced to a 4 minute imovie! Stop Action Movie Animation example!

I have heard that time passes for an individual in relationship to our size.  If you are a small child you need to nap more because the morning seems like eight or ten hours.  A grown adult, on the other hand, can go for 12 hours without sleep.  Christmas past is forgotten when you are young because it is such a long time between the holidays.  Grown-ups feel that gifts need to be purchased in January because "Christmas is just around the corner!"  No explanation...it is just the way it is!

I feel that acceleration of time mostly with my technology toys.  Things change so fast it is hard to keep up.  Year before last we started the tradition of taking pictures of our family adding one person at a time...we called it "Build a Hug!"  The lead up to the final photo was as fun to look at as the final picture.  The first year we even had to crop one grandchild in because he was not in the photo frame!  Sigh!

Final Xmas Video

2009

This year we set the computer up and videoed the whole process from beginning to end.  Little grandchildren passed out packages, each family member stepped into the middle of the floor to be the center of attention and then we all voted to rip open our present ALL AT THE SAME TIME!  We knew that we were going to be able to see the video over and over and watch different people with their prizes.  Then we took a video of the "Build a Hug", this year starting with my husband and I.

Below is a video my daughter-in-law put together of the family putting up their Christmas tree in their home in China.  In this case they set up their Mac laptop and let it run the whole time then edited out my son taking down the lights to rehang them and other oops incidents. 



We could have used a website SAM Animation (create stop action movies) if we had chosen to and the computer would have taken a picture every 10 seconds for the whole evening.  Either way the 3 hour party is reduced to about 4 minutes!  Here is a movie of Maddie making cookies using the SAM Animation application.  The video was posted on vimeo because You Tube is often blocked in China.  For me it is just a world blogophere reality check!!!


Maddie Makes a Cake from Andrew Torris on Vimeo.


I occasionally have trouble wrapping my mind around what we can do today if we own a computer.  The very fact that I am here talking to you out there in the blogosphere still gives me chills.

This grandma will go take a nap now...Christmas makes me feel like a child again!

Smile!

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