garden angel

Thursday and it's chore day and I am behind in my chores. More soon.

Easter belated, a bit

So far this the only photo I have. It's what our Easter baskets should have looked like if I had planted the grass soon enough. As it was, for the real Easter day, we had little sweet sprouts of grass. Lovely, but not quite lush.

Also, Augustus says to Frida, every opportunity he has when we are all together as an extended family:

(Frida will walk over to me and crawl into my lap or asked to be picked up)

Augustus: Ree-ta (that's what it sounds like when he says Frida), that not yo mama, there (pointing to Jeanna) yo mama, that not yo mama, that my mama, there yo mama.

And we all commence to crack up.

my secret (macro) life

In case you didn't know, I'm a bloggaholic. Ok, not really, but there are a few blogs outside of the realm of friends blogs that I visit on a regular basis and there always seem to be blog projects or challenges and this is the macro challenge here http://orangeflower.typepad.com/orange_flower/

All the photos are so gorgeous and well done. I blog at night, when everyone else is asleep, and never remember the photo during the day while there is beautiful light and flowers outside, so here is my first macro entry, late but oh well. The onions that didn't get fully drenched in tempura batter and fried to a crispy light delight. It looks kinda like a crazy face to me. Somehow pleasing. Not having an infant has caught up with me and I'm itchin for a creative outlet. I guess a bit desperately! Anyoo, more to come.

goggles and other goodies

primos

I dare say, Augustus loves his goggles

a makeshift stage

soon to be a fence

making a bed in the truck bed

I had just uploaded these photos, hadn't even begun this post when I was visited by a fairy miracle. Magdalena slipped out of the bedroom and onto my lap, wondering where I was, and pick me up please, come to bed. So I had the gift of snuggling down my four year old big girl, my wondrous magical darling of words and sentences and plans and "conversations" and agendas, as if she were a babe again. She held my hands in sleep, face turned toward mine, perfect peace and trust. Heaven. Absolute Heaven. Sigh.

But onto what I had in mind. No Easter photos! I (horrors!) forgot my camera on Easter Sunday! So I took photos with my camera, and my brother with his palm, and haven't had any success with getting the images to my computer. Fear not, they will appear, but this in the meantime.

Augustus will wear his goggles all day if he can find them, and when he can't, he wears his backups. One day he put them on in the morning, wore them to the library for story time, kept them on through Mrs. Owl, then decided to take them off for some serious art making. I hope he never loses his style, it is, of course, fabulous. As is, I will say, Magdalena's also. She puts together the most outlandish outfits, and strangely enough, red tights, pale yellow bloomers, pink boots and a chartreuse "visit Florida" t-shirt make a fetching ensemble.

Our fence panels were delivered on Friday and my husband, all his muscles, my brother Anthony and my brother in law Dave got the fence put up last weekend. I tell you what, my man can do some labor, as all the girls who watched him put in Kamy's sprinkler system will tell you, and it is a wonderful sight. Our fence is gorgeous! Our backyard has gone from not secure island of order between two disastrous neighbors to our own private haven of lush beauty and security and serenity. No more marauding dogs, no unsightly broken down fence, no unsightly over-grown house, just clean pure cypress fence and that crazy gorgeous tangle of oak canopy above.

While the menfolk were a'toiling, Jeanna, the littles (Augustus and Frida), Magdalena and I were out front rehabbing our plants. We transplanted some not-so-thriving azaleas to a spot where I hope they will thrive, planted my hibiscus topiary, planted my beautiful palms, and put all kinds of flowers in pots. I guess we'll get comfortable and stay a spell. Really, it is quite lovely. You should come for a visit.

I almost forgot to mention-Augustus got his first big boy haircut at a real barber shop. I mean this place was old school. So old school as a matter of fact, that if the barber who was out to lunch had been in, we would not have stayed - two overflowing ashtrays and at least 3 packs of cigarettes on his station. Nuff said. But we did stay and a sweet barber who was oh, I'd say at least seventy years old, took less than ten minutes, charged me $7, and transformed my curly-headed toddler into a very traditional little boy. The bushy bushy blond hairdo will be back by late spring, I'm sure, but for now he sure looks all grown up and official. Life is soooo good.