Emma, the loveliest Belgium Waffle, directed me to Tanya's story in the Guardian, which I thoroughly enjoyed and which reflects my own feelings about enormous music festivals. Of course, the ones I've attended didn't have the famous Glastonbury mud, they had heat stroke and assholes instead. Another side effect of having read this: now I want a Wendy House in my own backyard.
with the sight of Queen Alexandra's Sulphur butterflies. On my outings this weekend, on foot and bike, I saw thousands of these small lovelies.
Quoting Nature.com:
When these butterflies congregate by the score at damp earth following a Colorado mountain shower, the stationary green triangles and frenetic yellow blurs create a striking spectacle. This species is named for Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII of England, who also lent her name to the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea.
Cheese tortellini in a cream sauce made with roasted fennel, garlic, parmigiano-reggiano and fresh English Peas from the farmers' market. Oh, the fennel came from the market as well. This was accompanied by a simple salad from our garden. 
For dessert, a cherry galette made with Western Slope cherries. And a tall glass of local milk, natch.
but we just had a thunderstorm pass through here and now it is 73 degrees outside, sunny and wonderful. The girls are basking in the hammock while I work inside. Work= busy and annoying, but at least the girls are having fun outside, and not melting. Sorry, Texas!
Junebug just finished eating an ice cream sandwich. While she was talking to me about how delicious it was, she hit upon a novel concept. "Ice cream sandwiches are so much better than ice cream on a stick, because that stick is just wasted space. Why can't they make it edible? Like the stick in that dipping candy? And while they're at it, they should make the wrapper edible, too! Make it like that Japanese rice paper candy!"
What do you think?
For all my internest friends who've never eaten s'mores. I love internet tutorials, especially those of Hi Monkey!.Making s'mores was practically the first thing I wanted to do with Sinda y familia. We all enjoyed it immensely. Even Junebug who, after being told she couldn't have more than 3, said "That's good. I feel like I"m gonna throw up anyway.".
We are on the lookout today, watching for 4 great friends (how we've missed them!) and one giant, floppy, sweet yet potentially havoc-wreaking dog to arrive. Moki is, for us, the great unknown. How will she behave at our house? I'm using all my yoga breathing techniques to remain calm about her. I love dogs (well, most dogs. Nice dogs.) but I'm more than a bit worried about my garden. I have a vision of Moki crashing right into the middle of all my tender tomato plants, and this vision kept me awake for much of last night.
On the other hand, maybe the craptacular night's lack of sleep was beneficial. I'm so tired today that I am actually feeling more calm. The wonderful Colorado sunshine I awoke to this this morning didn't hurt, either. We've had a weird monsoon season this year. We usually get a mud season in May, but this year we've had it all through June. My kids have only been to the swimming pool twice so far because it has been so chilly, rainy and grey. Yes, the forecast speaks of more scattered thunderstorms but what I see out the window is a balm for my soul. It seems like those clear blue skies were what I really needed to relax.
So lately, this thing called actual life has gotten in the way of regular blogging. And honestly? I'm okay with that. Blogging was kind of a time-filler anyway. With my time now nigh on full, I don't feel the need so much anymore.
If you must have a recap, here goes:
Sugarbear helped break in a mud pit at the farm.
The girls get to hang out there while I teach on Wednesdays & Fridays, because I'm now a preschool teacher. Which is kind of weird, and really fun.
Also, we now have backyard smores capability. With my newly hard-earned cash, I invested in a fire pit. We broke it in last Saturday when Laura & family came over. Fun & smores were had by all. Yippee.
Now if you all will excuse me, I'm going to bed. Yawn.
p.s. I did make time to watch episode 1 of Nurse Jackie on the Roku. Best thing I've seen in years. Seriously.
I had a wonderful revelation today, one of those light-bulb-over-the-head moments when some neural connections are made which cause you to say out loud to the Universe: "Oh yeah! I get it, this is what I've been looking for, and now I've found it!". We've lived here just under 2 years, and we've finally managed to find some cool people, and cultivate them. We aren't finishing each other's sentences yet or anything like that. It'll take some time to really settle in. But the last 2 days have been wonderful, if a tad bit too busy.
Yesterday we met up with some friends at our old haunt Roger's Grove (remember the spleech?). The kids, who all get along together (Yippee!), played in the water while we adults sat on the shore and talked, enjoying the peace.
The weather changed while we were there, turning cool and prompting me to rummage through my car to find anything that the wet kids could wrap up in.
We said our fond farewells and headed to our respective homes.
We put the kids down for a brief nap (they were so tired it actually worked!) because I had a work meeting at the farm that evening, and they were coming with me. After the work part, my boss was throwing a Ghosts in the Graveyard flashlight party. So at 5:15 we woke the girls, we all ate an early supper and packed up the flashlights. When we arrived, there was already a bonfire burning. We grown-ups did our work stuff while the kids checked out the baby goat, only one day old. Also, Sugarbear caught and carried around one of the chicks her kindergarten class had hatched. Madalena (the chick) lives at the farm now.
Once the meeting was finished, the flashlights came out and we started the hiding and seeking. And then there were marshmallows to toast and eat, and then weeping when Sugarbear was informed that she wasn't allowed to finish off the rest of the last bag of marshmallows. Oh, the unfairness of being forced to share! And so late at night, too!
Skip to the next morning. I needed to meet with my boss privately to go over some of our arrangements, so the girls and I were back at the farm for 3 whole hours. My kids played with her kids. She and I sat on the same side of a heavy wooden picnic table and managed to tip the thing over on top of us both. (Much laughter, no injuries) Then she says "Have you been to the woods?" to which I reply no. So we all head out single-file through the alfalfa (which is tall and ready to harvest) toward a stand of trees in the near distance. By the way, single-file does not mean straight line. I know it looks pretty straight right here but you should have seen how meandering it was by the time we arrived at the grove. It looked like a drunken snail trail.
We make it to the grove and it is gorgeous in there. Birch trees all around.
Trampoline inside the grove, low to the ground. An outhouse with hand saws stashed inside for all the scrap wood lying around.
A long-unused horse trailer now housing a nest of songbirds. Wonder, all around.
I realize I'm supposed to have my girls at a neighborhood summer camp in mere minutes. We reluctantly tear ourselves away, knowing we WILL be back. One more trip on the zip line before we pack into the car bound for camp. We get there exactly and miraculously on time. The camp is conducted by 2 girls, both 15 years old, who do this every year. They invite younger kids to come hang out in their yards and have fun. One of the girls is the eldest sister of Junebug's friend and classmate. Today's theme: Science! They make volcanoes (the baking soda & vinegar kind AND the coke & mentos kind), the cornstarch goo stuff, plant seeds, and eat dirt (chocolate pudding sprinkled with crushed oreos and stuffed with gummi worms. All this in 3 hours. They go back tomorrow for Camping Day!
Thank you, @sinda & @davidlebovitz! Via Eat Me Daily.
p.s. I never thought I'd use those tags together.
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