While I've been gone...

The girls in Galveston last Saturday.

Micaela and I processed 15 pounds of these today. For those in Northern climes they are
Loquats and Houston is rife with them at the moment. I'd never come across one until we moved here, but they seem to be a purely homegrown fruit. I've never seen them in the stores. We planted a tree in our front yard,but until it produces we are counting on the kindness of neighbors and friends. The mom of one of Sofia's friends dropped off two full grocery bags of them on Wednesday. I noticed that the neighbor just across from us, a widow in her 80s, has a tree she didn't seem to be picking so I walked over there this morning and asked her if she'd mind if we picked them for her. After climbing the tree and wrestling with a large thorny bush I netted two more bags, plus some for her, and a visit inside to see some of her amazing paintings and to hear wonderful stories about her life during World War II and the "dustbowl" of Amarillo Texas where she is originally from.

Loquats taste something like apricots, but have more seeds and are thus more work to prepare for canning. I owe the loquat donors a jar of jam and some homemade bread.
Good jam, all 19 jars of it! Bad picture....

In other news:
-I got a new wheel, and responsibly sold my old one to finance it. The new wheel is a Lendrum DT, my old wheel an Ashford Traveller.

-Tomorrow I'm taking Sofia to see Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing at Main Street Theater. I have lots of memories of this book, which I read several times as a child. Remember Fudge and Dribble?

-I did a fiscally non-responsible thing and bought tickets to see my mom and assorted friends, in the DC Metro area, in July.

-Micaela was accepted into the high school we hoped for, she is very happy and so are we.

-New plants in the yard: jellybean tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, Juliet Tomato plant and a Roma. I went on a snail eradication mission today. The mystery of disappearing plants has been solved. Truth be told I think snails are cute, but I discovered where they hang out during the day. A regular snail convention I tell you!

-Birds continue to be a surprising source of pleasure here. All my life, since I was a child, I have been part of a bird watching family. The variety of birds to be seen here rivals anywhere else I've ever lived. We're participating in this great Urban Birds project, there is a fantastic packet of info and fun stuff to do with kids that you can download or ask them to send to you.

-I'm still at loose ends, but working on it. 5 moves, none of the places within even 1000 miles of each other, in 10 years might be pushing my moving mojo just a bit.