sloggers

With my back turned toward him, he enters the room and says,

"Honey, I got you these really comfortable shoes!"

Hmmm...? What is wrong with this statement? First of all, my husband thinks I have waaay tooo many shoes already...second, he only just ran a quick errand at our local Orchard Supply Hardware Store...and third, he knows my shoe size? This was all way too exciting!

They are called Sloggers, sort of like Croc's, but Sloggers claim to be more comfortable with a special removable insole and comfortable they are! Made for gardening, I think I would wear these shoes most any day (unless I am with my daughter ;) My husband also got a navy blue pair for himself...you know...farm shoes! You just slide your foot in and off you go. Then he made the mistake of telling me that they also came in Red.

"No, I love the Green, but now I need them in Red too!"

You can be sure that that will be the last pair of shoe's I get from him ;)

casualties

A storm came through yesterday, high winds & more rain right after flooding the orchard...not so good. The entire time my husband kept going out into the storm in his galoshes and rain coat.
"There's not a whole lot of good we can do at this point" I said.
"Or we can focus on the other hundreds that stayed put and tell them, "Good Job!"Right honey?"
At least we only lost one :(

So today after things dried up a little we went on a farmers trek of the property. I kept saying, "Good Job trees!" and "Thanks for hunkering down!"
He would look over at me and smile while shaking his head. "Silly girl...do you really think that helps?"

"Wholeheartedly!" I replied :)
and I just kept on thanking those trees for all of their hard work.

the gathering

Writing yesterday about moats and castles reminded me of a certain beach vacation we took in 2002. My husband had gathered all the kids in the area and decided to take on the monumental task of making the best sand castle ever. Those kids dug all...day...long, retrieved countless buckets of sea water and even posted a guard when construction halted for break time. What you see here is the front wall and a toe headed Jack peeking out over the top.
This was how impressive it was from behind! The walls being the simple part, those boys dug a hole to China and by the time they were done, they could all stand inside and be completely hidden. Everyone passing by that day stopped to admire their handy work, my husband giving the boys all of the credit. It took the entire day and I bet many of the parents enjoyed the free babysitting :)
Here was the hard part and a lesson in being a responsible human being... Before dark, my husband told the boys that the Castle Fort had to be torn apart and filled in, lest anyone night walking might fall in and get hurt. That lecture was met with great resistance and a lot of moans and groans, but in the end they all agreed to doing the right thing.

The next day, all the same boys got together and decided to start a new Castle Fort. The digging began and they all petered out in less than an hour...

...this time, the fore thought of knowing that they would respectively have to destroy all of their hard work took the Umph out of this day's project.

I often think about that sunny long day, the hard lesson learned and wonder if any of those boys would go on to be the "initiator's" of other Castle Forts...saving the moral until the end of the hard days work...of course ;)

a farmers Easter

The flood gates were opened today...

My hubby made sure things went according to plan. If you look carefully(click on the picture), you can see Zeus dashing through the waterfall...hee hee!

The entire house was surrounded with water. It was just like having our own personal moat...

...and that would make this place a castle
and I the queen :)

Thank goodness we didn't have to hide any eggs this year...

Happy Easter

feeling the distance

Why is it that even though I may already live a plane ride away from my sister, that when she goes on vacation...I am missing her and feeling the distance? I have heard others say that it is the same for them...

hearts connected know

when the distance between them

grows even farther

*taken from Bellingham Wa.

i miss you neecie...

who knew?

this will be our first crop

and I'm feeling rather fond

of these fuzzy creations

who knew an almond started out fuzzy?

not me..and off to the side, not in any good vantage point

is this beauty, that from a small distance
almost looks on fire!

I have a dogwood tree...

I have a dogwood tree?

I have a pink dogwood tree!

who new?

there is so much exploring left to be had around this place...

eggs...not for Easter

At the top of the pillars that surround our house are perfect little landings that are safe from the wind and rain. There have been a few mourning doves hanging around and I could hear their "coo coo coo" singing throughout my day. Little did I know that one of them was looking for an apartment.

Well, this beautiful cutie checked right in and I have been watching her faithfully sit very still and quiet. No more singing, just keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of danger. I noticed that a few neighboring birds seem none to happy that she is there. Every time I passed the mudroom door I checked to see if she left at all to search for food and finally this afternoon...

I quickly grabbed a ladder and snapped these before her return. Two softly pink perfect little eggs lay in a nest made from the twigs of our almond trees. My heart was touched and I thought of Easter, God's faithfulness in caring for us and the son He willingly gave up.

I feel lucky to have taken these pictures. I admire the steadfast duty of this little momma and her two baby doves. Maybe I'll even get to see the chicks after they hatch. I'll keep looking...

watching gladiators

Here I am in the passengers seat driving to San Francisco. Going over this bridge is always exciting but our plans today are much more interesting than usual...today we get to watch a bunch of strong sweaty men beat each other to a pulp and enjoy it. They call it Rugby...I call it Watching the Gladiators!
This is what a bunch of them look like from behind, now just imagine them turning around and charging with the goal of making sure you don't see the light of day...yikes!
This is our daughters boyfriend Jon...not driving our tractor today, oh no, he has an entirely different agenda on this day. Don't ask me to explain the rules of Rugby, but I can tell you that they huddle together and that's called a "scrum" the ball goes everywhere, there's a whole lot of tackling, a lot of bruising, some blood and these guys don't wear protective gear!
Oh, and one of Jon's jobs is this lifting thing, which is nothing like ballet ;) Nope...when these superhero's are done, they shed very small costumes and all their weapons are nonremovable.
At the end of the ordeal...there are always pretty girls hanging around that don't mind a little sweat...well, sort of.
~Jon and Angela~

We also had the privilege of meeting Jon's parents, who were lovely, friendly and very warm. That was celebrated with a clink of champagne and going out to dinner to a Peruvian restaurant. Amazingly yummy food, a few laughs and gratitude that we both have some pretty awesome children. I took some pictures to capture the event and look forward to more in the near future.
~Angela and her Momma~

little mr. funny face

So sorry I couldn't share my planting yet. Truth is, I wasn't feeling well enough to start the task, but hopefully I can get out there today. Instead I am sharing something really special and hilarious about my nephew Cedar. This is at the core of his being and it is such an endearing part of him.

Cedar likes to do things with his eyes closed. If he builds a tower with blocks, he'll dismantle it and then rebuild it with his eyes closed...smiling the entire time at his accomplishment. Then he will open his eyes and laugh because he had so much fun doing it. If he pushes his cart on a new course, he'll retry that course with his eyes closed and giggle.

This is all very grand and wonderful but that's not all...Cedar likes an audience! So he does this hilarious peering at you while his eyes are closed and I was lucky enough to catch it with my camera...even though I am a little out of focus. You get the idea...and doesn't he look a little like Mr. Magoo when he makes this face? Every other time he is just being Mr. Adorable and if I'm not laughing when I'm with him, then I'm trying to steal a kiss!

p.s. Mr. Magoo is a very old cartoon character and I realize that I just gave my age away by mentioning him :)

p.s.s. Who wouldn't want to kiss Mr. Magoo?

the light box

I purchased this at a wonderful nursery we call The Greenery. They get special shipments of rare and exotic plants, succulents to die for and many other treasures...like this candle box that shines dreamy diamonds of light onto the wall and ceiling.
It creates such an environment that makes me want to go to bed with dreaming on my mind. Tomorrow I will be taking you and I on a planting adventure, so be ready. See you then :)

bee licious

My grieving took me away from my computer for a few days and so did my allergies. Living out here in the country is the best, but it also has me surrounded in pollens that I'm not used to.

My sister told me about this little gem and I thought I would share them with you. They are organic throat drops that work wonders when your sore throat has you down, besides the fact that they taste wonderful and not so mediciney.

Bee M.D. by BestSweet

I purchased mine at CVS Pharmacy but I'm sure they can be found elsewhere. Hope everyone is having a wonder FULL day :)

goodbye my friend

yesterday i recieved some very sad news that my working partner Penny had passed away. completely unexpected, she leaves 2 children and her very loved husband. she also has left many friends and coworkers, but most of all, she leaves behind hundreds of children whose lives were touched and changed through her teaching and her belief that no matter what ones circumstances were they could learn and would learn. you see, Penny was a specialist in her field of teaching children who were learning challenged. many of them needed mothering, counseling and a safe environment to come and push their minds as well as their hearts.

penny and i literally worked side by side, often sharing classrooms with other school programs. we socialized beyond the work day, enjoying each other's company and friendship. we were a good team together and days spent with her were some of the best years of my life.

so now, way too soon, i say goodbye my friend. the tears i shed today will turn to laughter when we meet again. i love you penny...

if Cedar could talk...

"Hey you guys, I have a great idea! Let's go to the park today!"

Okay Cedar...but first auntie dd wants to cuddle...

and in our family, this is what is called a "forced" cuddle :)

"Okay, my jacket's on and I'm ready to go!"

"Do you really need to take another picture auntie dd?!"

later that day...
"Hmmm...what do we have here?"

"Sand!...you throw it, you let it slide through your fingers, then you eat it!"

"Weee...slide fun with Momma!"

"and the obligatory swing ride for the adults..."

"I'm too sexy for this park, too sexy for this park...peace out!"

facts about him

~Riding in the back seat next to Cedar is an experience. With a book in hand,(always)he is a very patient passenger. He would often share this passion by handing me a book of my own. He is very serious about this and stares at many favorite pages.
He may come to a lion, which emits a deep growl, or another favorite scene that elicits his own commentary. Now tell me, who can resist this kind of charm?~

~Another very important part of Cedar's day is music. He loves to play the drums and makes one out of everything. But as you can see, he has the coolest drums ever! He also has a guitar, an ancient singing bowl, a xylophone and many more.
My sister and boho bro make music one of the priorities in Cedar's life. They use it to foster peaceful environments for him and to quiet down the end of his day. He loves to dance and I just know that one day music will be a permanent part of his grown up life~

~This is the air purifier that he is just now big enough to reach the controls.
He loves to have the air blow across his face, which causes him to experience a burst of delight~

~In our family, we call this the baby bird...commonly displayed during sudden bursts of excitement, or when any kind of food is in the general area :)

One would think that this sort of behavior would stop when grown into adulthood. Not in this family!~

~On this day, the first full day, we just rested and played close to home. Auntie dd was very tired from the traveling and I needed to recharge my battery.
But there is nothing like the sweet face of an angel to make you feel at peace and that all is well with the world we share~

home

I am home now and literally thought I would find the time to post from my sister's house...what was I thinking? I forgot that toddlers have so much to share and I found it hard to leave Denise's side. My trip lasted 6 days, which flew by and I have so much to share that I thought I would break it down into the days I was there and take 6 posts to tell you everything in the order that it happened...yes, I can be that anal :)

I am scared to death of flying and I don't mean just a little scared. I have never really discussed this with my family because I am the mom that encouraged her children to try new things without fear and the wife that always says, "I'll be fine." With that said...it was a really bumpy flight. No one even got their ordered drinks and I feel like the complimentary peanuts were literally thrown at us. The pilot came across the loud speaker quite often to reassure us and the lady seated next to me kept kissing her Jesus necklace and making the sign of the cross, head to chest, shoulder to shoulder, over and over. This was NOT encouraging me! I whispered a prayer and almost clapped when we landed and wanted to squeal, "Yay!"
My sister looked beautiful and the cutie on her hip, delicious!
To my delight, he seemed to recognize me and showed no fear being surrounded by strangers, or loud luggage machinery.
He did a lot of smiling, I just missed it with my camera. Denise let him down so he could get some of his wiggles out. To those of you who know my sister's journey, there is no doubt that this little angel was meant for our family...

more to come...

leaving on a jet plane...

On this shelf is a clue to the trip I will be taking tomorrow. (Yes, I know the picture is crooked) Hmmm, let's see...books? no...pictures? yes! See the little angel in the middle...

Yes, my little nephew Cedar...I am leaving tomorrow for southern Cali, but I'll be bringing my computer and camera with me because we expect that there will be plenty of Kodak moments to be had. I'll be there until Friday night and I'd love to be able to tell you all the things my sister and I plan on doing...but I have to go pack!

See you there :)

off I go...Weeeeeeeeeeee