I made a delicious braided bread braid filled with sweetened cream cheese and homemade lemon curd a few weeks back. I shared some with Paige because it was too pretty to keep to myself. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite websites for great food.

Here are the spotty orchids currently in bloom by my front door.

I took the kid and dog to the playground 3 or 4 nights ago and stood on a fire ant hill. Fire ant bites form pustules that sting and itch like mad; if you scratch them, they pop open and spread sticky gold fluid all over and they just itch more. Look how far the redness extends…you should see the toe with FOUR bites on it!! Fire ant stings peak at 48 hours for me, so 6 hours after this photo was taken, I was begging Zach to PLEASE find the anti-itch spray so I could get some sleep!

This is my Sunday view. Looking at the washing machines, and eating bread and butter from Sandy’s Cafe.

This rainy day photo was taken back at the beginning of the rainstorm that caused the flooding. We were tired of being cooped up inside, so we took our umbrellas for a walk to the pier.

Despite the rain, the water was crystal clear, and we could see Parrotfish down amongst the rocks! Hmm, he is hard to see in this picture. Click here for someone else’s better photo.

I pulled over on my bike to take a photo of this glorious passionflower vine in a pot.

The Boogedy went to the new office with dad to help run network cables after Goombay Festival. This activity was deemed more fun than the festival itself, so much so that he forgot his tummy ache, which he’d had for days, and which the funnel cake and hot dog did nothing to stop.

 

 

Minkies

When the Boogedy was little, he called his favorite food “minkies”. We still call mangoes “minkies”.  Now we live somewhere that gorgeous, ripe mangoes literally fall at our feet. Look at these beauties! The flavor of these doesn’t even compare to grocery store mangoes, even the best you’ve ever had.

Zach is going to get allergic, just like my poor sister. Gluttonous mango-sticky-face!

The quilt in the top photo is “Mad as a March Hare”, made for me by my mom in 2004 when I lived in grey San Francisco.

New Games to Play

I spotted this game while looking for parking the other night. It was displayed on a table for FREE! This is a product that has been “girl-washed”…a toy that I’ve only ever seen in bright primary colors is now being marketed to the princess set. I found this a little bit gross, but will admit that I LOVE valentines day colors.

Prickly Pile Up is a game we’ve had for a year, but the Boogedy is just now getting enough fine-motor skills to enjoy it.

The game of setting these dice into patterns was good for a full hour of play. He got really upset if I messed this up. So I couldn’t help but make some of these “twos” when he wasn’t looking, just to see if he would notice.  He noticed.

This is not what the health department means when they offer free safety checks for carseat installation.

All of my neices and nephews should recognize this type of two-string pull-toy. Mom and Dad made chunky wooden ones shaped like stars and other fun stuff. This is a light-weight fairy at my friend Miss C’s house!

Last week when I went to the laundromat, I heard an adolescent chicken outside, in a panic….sqeaking for his mama. I found her inside, atop the laundry cart. Was she trying to teach him a lesson about staying close? She flew back out to lead him around a moment after this photo was taken.

Miss P got a package from her mother while I was at her house…a childhood Sunbonnet Sue quilt her late grandmother made. Now it will rest on the bed of one of her adorable girls!

 

 

 

End of Season Fun

We decided to go have some fun this Labor Day weekend, as we understand it’s the last hurrah before the tourist season ends here. We stood in line for half and hour to do something I’ve never tried, bungee trampoline. It was so cool, and nauseating, and exhilarating, and giggle-inducing, and made my palms all clammy.

But I learned to do a backwards somersault!

Zach was able to go frontways and backwards, but I couldn’t get my camera to get him in action.

We convinced the Boogedy to go on a bouncy, inflatable slide. He kept asking if it would pop, so we told him it was a pillow and pillows don’t pop. He eventually got spooked and wouldn’t go any more. He’s spent today talking about how he doesn’t want to go in bouncy castles again. We praised him for being brave and conquering his fear, rather than dwelling on the 12 dollars we spent for him and Zach to go down a SLIDE.

And for Alexis, pictures from Oishi Thai, our favorite local restaurant, where everything is good. So good, in fact, that we order something different each time (managing to branch away from my standby…green curry).

Bottomless Iced Tea

Tom Yum

We ran through the sprinklers, too.

Family Weekend

On Wednesday, the Boogedy was babysat and we walked to our beach for a lovely sunset

And went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, where they cook the food on the grill at your table. I did not photograph the chef, but will show you the fountain outside.

On Thursday, we found a listless frog on our porch. He allowed his head to be pet, and I picked him up and placed him under the bushes. He wasn’t there on Friday.

On Friday I took Zach a picnic lunch at work. It was pouring rain, so we asked permission to sit at one of the tables outside the coffee shop, under the eaves.

On Saturday, we rode our bikes hard for 8 miles, then stopped at Thomas’ Donut Shop across the street from the beach.

And tried something I’ve never seen in donut form, Red Velvet.

We bought an umbrella because the rain has started to be just a little chilly, and it looked like it wouldn’t stop.

While we were at the farmer’s market picking up raw milk, the Boogedy rolled down the grassy slope in the rain, getting completely soaked.

There was some puddle twirling and jumping.

And we grabbed Pizza at Brunos, which has the most wonderful garden/swamp in the back of the building.

To finish the day, the dog was wrapped in blankets and piled with pillows.

And dad was forced to take his own medicine: The Bravery Test.

Outdoorsy

A visit to Camp Helen, a Florida State Park near our home.

This is a dune lake, separated from the gulf by ephemeral dunes…you can see the gulf as the horizon. The sign in the lower right talks all about respecting the alligators who live here. I admit to being a little ‘on edge’ for the remainder of this walk.

The Boogedy wanted to see the ‘sparkle water’.

And Zach wanted to put up his feet in his new Five Finger shoes.

The Boogedy is always looking for spiderwebs. Guess how many he found on this rocking chair.

extreme closeup of a sidewalk frog:

and a seafoamish, mossy-licheny thing growing in clump colonies:

Too Much Fun

The fountain with a button to push (that’s the very best part)!

Enjoying someone else’s digging:

Zach surfing before the storm hits:

Zach looking for a lost beach umbrella on the dunes:

taking dorky self-portraits at dawn:

Making homemade pasta:

Mushroom-garlic-three-cheese stuffed raviolis in chicken soup!

Chronicle of a Cross-Country Move

Sunday, May 23. Clean until my back hurts. Then stop and watch guiltily while others do the rest.

Sunday/Monday 1:20 am. Depart in the middle of darkness on I-80 toward Chicago. Weather is harsh, damp, cold. I’ve thought only of our ultimate destination and packed shorts and flipflops for the roadtrip.

5/24, 2am, Zach drives us through a scary, white-out blizzard up Parley’s Canyon.

Monday 5:20am. Stop, exhausted, in windy, frigid Flaming Gorge. Sleep for a few hours.

Monday mid-morning. Another horrid blizzard in Wyoming. Ethan navigates the white-knuckle pass. Can’t stop…no where to go but forward. Finally find an exit with a little coffee shop…

Monday. Decide to skip Chicago and the tornado warnings on the Plains, instead head south toward warmth and calm skies. Another night sleeping in the van somewhere.

Two days through Texas.

Almost lost Ethan and Jess’ dog, Koda, who decided to herd cattle while out for a potty break. She came back an hour and a half later, when she got tired.

Sleeping in Dallas at my sister’s house. Restraining myself from stealing all her gorgeous cookbooks. Knitting all the way.

Camping near a lake, cat attacked by a raccoon around 5am…rescued from a tree covered in her own pee.

Next morning, a horse back ride, a treat from Ethan and Jess.

Tire was going to blow out, Zach noticed. Tire shop just down the road! Temperature? 95 degrees. Humidity? unbelievable.

Camping in a swamp? Who does that? We do, and the dogs get ticks and I get irritable.

The Boogedy is thrilled to find a playground in the swamp.

The A/C in the van is NOT up the the challenge of driving through the South (supposedly this was fixed by the mechanic before we left town). Mosca monopolizes the vent.

Marathon drive to our new pink house in Sunnyside, Florida.

Unpack the van and then take a midnight swim.

Current daily  goal: spend as much time as possible in the water before the oil arrives.

Things not mentioned or photographed above:

not getting enough sleep. hearing the ABC song a hundred times. discovering that the vcr in the van works, but that we only have one movie, toy story. watching dvds on the portable player…over and over. getting eaten by bugs while camping. eating tons of junk food. shelling sunflower seeds to keep me alert while i drive. the sheer grouchiness of traveling that long with anyone. the memorial day weekend traffic in mobile alabama. all the varieties of sweet tea. the dirtiest bathrooms I have ever seen. gorgeous sunsets along the way. realizing that I have the best kid in the whole world, and I couldn’t have asked for a three-year old to be better for 5 days of travel!

Drizzly Day Cleanup

Zach and the Boogedy rake up the backyard.

The season’s first wasp, really wobbly on his feet, and so slow that the Boogedy and I could get really close and see his colors!

A few days later I was raking leaves in the front yard, not expecting anything but the tulips to be coming up. I uncovered this under a pile of dead brown leaves!

I can’t remember what it is, but it seems like a succulent, and I remenber that it has purpley flowers. I re-covered it with a leaf blanket until the nights are a bit warmer.

Roast Turkey Butt Hat

Zach’s been asking me for a grown-up version of the chicken butt hat I made for the Boogedy. He got it for xmas. ON TIME. I was madly sewing in ends on xmas eve!