Delaney Funnies

I said, "I need to get on the floor and stretch my back."

She threw herself on to her stomach and said, "Yah, do yogurt."

New Yard

I was really sad when we moved from the back house, which you can just catch a glimpse of in the middle of the photo to the right of the pomegranate, to the front house for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest reasons was that we had finally gotten the back house and yard really nice. Some stuff wasn't even nice until we rented it. It is so silly how you will make stuff nice for other people, but not yourself. I guess life just gets so busy. Anyway, we haven't waited so long to work on making this house more enjoyable. Sam spent his spring break tearing out the old grass and building raised beds. The yard was overgrown and unloved. Until now. This bed has carrot, radish, and swiss chard seeds planted, as well as cilantro, egglplant, and a tomato. It is nice to be growing things again. Eventually, Sam wants to plant and espalier a fruit tree to the right of the window along the fence, which would be a great space saver in this yard.This is our new table that provides us with some much needed shade. We love to eat outside, especially in the summer when it is hot. I think we will live out here this summer!
Here is the other raised bed that Sam put in. It has bell peppers, tomatoes, parsley,sugar snap peas, and chives. Our compost is happening very slowly in the back. It doesn't get as much love as it should, because...Hey, I've got kids to take care of. I can't be fussing over this pile!I really love this bed and it's curves. It has strawberries and some jasmine there, which I am hoping does a nice job filling the fence in. I love this window. It was part of an old dilapidated door in the back house. I am so glad we salvaged it.
Sam surprised us and planted two blueberry bushes. I have great hope that they do well. They look happy now, and even have a few unripe berries. I was a bit sad we didn't do anything much while Sam was off, but I am so glad he worked so hard out here. We enjoy it every day, and I just love waking up and heading out to see what is happening in the yard!

Disappointed

Today as I was going out front with the ladder to wash windows, I thought I should check on the progress of our mockingbird nest in the neighbors palm. Last time we checked there were three little eggs. I was distressed when I could not locate it. I had wondered why they had not seemed very attentive lately.

Then I remembered a conversation I had previously with that same neighbor before I realized we could look at the nest from our side of the fence. What a mistake that was. I asked him a couple of weeks ago if we could come into his yard because we were so excited to see the nest that had been built there. I told him how excited we were that the birds had used some of our yarn and sticks, and that we enjoyed watching the progress.

"Oh, that's what all that racket has been," he said.

The nest seemed pretty sturdy to me, and my suspicion is that he knocked the nest down, which makes me not like him very much anymore. I didn't tell Emma. I knew she would be sad and wonder, as I did, why would someone do that?

Conversations Overheard

Emma and her friend are at play in the other room. I hear Emma say emphatically,"We are very, very poor. We live in such poverty. We live in the desert."

Later I hear this...E: "You don't want to kill a scavenger." A: Yah, because they clean up all the stinky bones."

Silly kids.

In Which I Inundate You With Pictures

We visited a local Botanical Garden and communed with nature. Here are some lovely bleeding hearts.
I love Borage. It is such a hairy little plant, and the flowers are edible.
Amazing roots on the Moreton Bay Fig.
Girls who run with the wind.
This bee was in need of a stop to unload his amazing pollen saddlebags.
Wisteria spiral
Monarch caterpillar on a milkweed plant. The plant and it's strange pods are what actually stopped us. We didn't know what it was until closer examination revealed 5 or 6 little fellows munching away contentedly.
This working water pump was a highlight.
This nest is actually in our neighbors low palm. We have had fun watching "our" mockingbird and her partner building their nest through our kitchen window. At some point we went out in the yard and broke a bunch of twigs off of some branches and threw some snippets of yarn out for them as well. If you look closely at the bottom of the nest you can see our pink yarn. The last time we checked there were 3 eggs. We can't wait for them to hatch!

Strawberry Picking

We visited a local organic farm the other day for a tour and strawberry picking.
It was a big hit, as you can see. We were pulled by a tractor through the fields all the while getting lots of interesting information, but better yet, tastes of plants straight from the fields. The girls tried everything; cilantro, romaine, radishes (spicy!), carrots, spinach, snap peas, and lots of strawberries.
We each got a small box to fill with strawberries. Of course we ate and picked to our hearts content.

Color Coordinated Blocks

Emma locked herself in the playroom the other day to work on something unhindered by Delaney. She came out awhile later to invite me in.
I had to take some pictures of her little creations because they were so visually pleasing.