A (Sometimes) Beautiful View

One reason that we bought our house in the depths of suburbia is because of the view out the back windows. Some people call it a scenic wetland, others would refer to it as a marsh. I just know that when I am standing on the deck, I don't have to look at the back of a neighbor's garage or, unless I really strain my neck, directly into someone else's bathroom window.

Judging by the amount of dog crap that has accumulated on our deck over the past week, it has been cold out. Yesterday morning was no different, but one thing that made it more bearable was the frost patterns that had formed on the storm door. Since our deck faces east, the sunrise made the frost pretty enough to make me pause and actually take a picture.

One of my brothers was thoughtful enough to give Zoe a pack of Crayola Window Crayons for Christmas. Since the window in the deck door is the recipient of smears from the dog's nose and hand smudges from the kids, it is the one window in our house that gets cleaned on a fairly regular (weekly) basis, which makes it the ideal, and only, place that I will let her use these markers. After I took the picture of the frost and shut the actual door, the view instantly shifted from "Nature's Suspended Beauty" to "My Kids Are A Little Bit Twisted."

While Zoe had been busy drawing multi-colored wavy lines across the bottom of the door, Zach and Charlie wanted to get in on the fun. The results, while creative and colorful, also manage to prove that even though my kids have similar interests and sometimes even get along, there is definitely an age gap.

Yes, there is a smiling snowman, but there is also a dog peeing on the snowman. Charlie drew The Smoker from the video game "Left4Dead2." The tree trunk is blue, two UFO's are having a battle, and one man managed to get his head shot off in an unfortunate bow and arrow accident. Apparently the markers don't come pre-programmed to only draw pictures of flowers, rainbows, cupcakes and sunshine.

Lucky for me, this stuff washes off easily, so I will be able to have a clear view of our snowy bog without having to always look through interesting artwork. If, however, the dog continues to crap and pee on the deck, I may just have Zoe color the entire window black, and I won't wash it off until it gets warm out.