Monday, July 28, 2008

my wee bonny lass becomes less wee

Yesterday Meara figured out how to push herself backwards from her tummy up into a sit. I wondered if it was a fluke and so I put her back on her tummy and she did it three more times within 15 minutes. I said "Yay!" and gave her a round of applause and she just grinned with the proudest little smile I've ever seen from her.

It's a truly bittersweet thing to see. On the one hand I'm thrilled to see her accomplish new milestones and grow into herself but on the other hand I mourn the loss of my tiny little baby that is no longer. She's already nearing the "big baby" stage of crawling all over the place and I will miss the itty bitty baby that she was.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

the market and alien-eyed creatures

Q, Meme and I returned from the Farmer's market with full tummies. (Well maybe not Meme, hers was filled up with mama's milk before leaving.) Quinn ate his favorite thing- a lemon cream tube pastry thingy that is delicious.

I had my very favorite thing- a pita falafel.
mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Quinn was hungry enough that my sounds of happiness while devouring it were too much to handle. He actually tried some. It's quite a feat for this little guy. He's a very very picky eater and doesn't brave new foods very often unless he's highly pressured or bribed to do so. This was one of those magical moments that doesn't come very often where he actually asked me to describe what it tastes like and then gave it a shot. His first two bites he gave a thumb half up half down.. then the second bite it was two thumbs in the middle zone.. kinda good kinda weird. Then by the third bite the thumbs were up and he finished the thing off. Of course I had to eat all the vegetables away from the sides of the falafel but it's a start. He did let the lettuce stay, so that's something green I suppose. All in all I was very proud of my picky eater today. I'm going to have to make some falafels at home now to keep this on the menu of stuff he'll eat.



Yesterday I made a quick stop by the cemetery to check on the wee ones. Mamabird was sitting on her nest. I snapped a few shots of her before she got mad at me and flew up to a nearby tree to yell at me. I felt bad for bugging her but I couldn't resist seeing how much the little ones had grown in the few days I'd been away. I know they change fast and I just had to see.


Sure enough they had grown noticeably larger and more feathers! Still in the freakish-alien-like stage but getting closer to looking like birds.

Mamabird was happy when I left and hopped back on over to her babes while I watched from a distance.

outings

blech. That cold weather snap left everyone in our house besides Q with an annoying little cold. Sore throats and congestion. That's not supposed to happen in the summer. arrrgh.

Ah well... life must go on. Zay just went on her first outing with a friend. The girl across the street is five and invited Zay to go to see a Sesame Street stage production at the Carlson Center. It was last minute.. they were literally heading out the door for it but Zay really wanted to and is pretty comfortable with the neighbor mom so I let her go. I think she'll have a good time.

Quinn's buddy headed upriver with his uncle today so he's bummed that everyone is doing something fun but him. So we're going to head over to the farmer's market for something yummy.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The sun returns!

After some of the coolest summer days I can remember the sun is finally back out and temp is about 70. For the last few days we were seeing day time temps in the low 60s with rain and wind and night time lows in the mid 30s.. I actually had to turn the heat on and I don't usually do that until August. Its been a very strange summer weather wise. I was actually afraid that my tomatoes might freeze before they had a chance to ripen. I think they made it through alright though.

I took the kids and bought some perennials on sale and went and planted them on my great-grandmother's grave the other day. I never knew her but I like to tend to resting place and reflect on my ancestors of this land. While we were there Quinn made this discovery-

Zay was especially fascinated and had no problem understanding the importance of not touching them.

"Baby Ah-Ahs!!" (Her names for animals are often simply the noises they make.. like "meows" and "woof woofs".. "ah-ah" is her impression of a raven call.)

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Lakeside


, originally uploaded by harpyr.

My brother flew in yesterday from Arizona for a surprise visit. Today is my dad's birthday and everybody is spending the weekend out at the lake cabin. I picked up my bro and we drove out to for the surprise visit. Dad had a big ol smile on his face. It's been two years since Tom visited last. I'm so glad to see him again. The kids had a great time playing in the mud and water. I didn't really venture far from the shaded deck and air conditioned cabin. It was about 85 F degrees out and I just don't like sweating all that much. It's weird that I spend all winter fantasizing about the summer and then when it gets here I can hardly stand to be outside for very long when the weather is like this. I much prefer the half cloudy days with a nice strong breeze and the occasional brief rain shower.. We've had a lot of those this summer and I've been thankful for that. We might head back out to the cabin on Sunday and I'll be sure to take some more pictures from different angles if I do. The few shots I did snap were all taken with a zoom from waaay up on the deck that over looks the water from a big hill.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A second chance


The only way to cope with my intense emotional upset over the destruction of my flower bed was to promptly go out and buy new plants to replace it. Never mind that fully 1/3 (atleast!) of the growing season is past. I couldn't go through the rest of the summer with only a scraggly bunch of lamb's quarter growing where my lovely amaranth had been.
As it turns out a few of the tiny sprouts of amaranth that I started from seed survived and I found some nice big specimens at Anne's Greenhouse to look pretty while the sprouts grow up. I also got a nice big sage plant (not the culinary kind) that says it's hardy to -30F. If I insulate it with some straw in the winter I'm hoping it'll pull through.

I also got a few daisy plants that I'm in love with. One is the perfect shade of purple and so well complimentedby the orangey yellow ones. So bright and happy!






















I reinforced the fence against the side of the house and patched up another hole I found with some chicken wire. I think that should do the trick. Let's keep our fingers crossed!


Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Love-Lies-Bleeding

My favorite plants faced an untimely end. Adie, our youngest Corgi got into the flower bed and murdered my amaranth plants. I am bawling like a baby over this. A person should not be this attached to plants but when your growing season is as short as ours there is a lot of anticipation that builds up over the winter. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to seeing my favorite flowers this year. Now that dream is dashed in a few brief moments of puppy mischief. How depressing.