Somewhere under the rainbow....

This past weekend I went to visit my friend in D.C. We walked out of Second Story Books on Dupont Circle to the most amazing rainbow either of us had ever seen. It was huge and luminous and the picture doesn't do it justice, but it was worth documenting.

Last night we celebrated Solstice which is, of course, technically today, but today Micaela has a friend over and Sofia is at a sleepover. This is the first year we have decided to do the whole gift thing on Solstice. I look forward to sleeping in on the day most dedicate to presents. The kids were beyond happy with their gifts and extremely grateful. I'm grateful that today brought a Solstice mix (and other goodies!) from the musical Wordy Diva and a gift certificate to a local spa from my boss.

Tomorrow we will be invaded by teenage girls for a birthday party. Micaela will officially be 14 on Sunday. There is an element of deja vu in the whole thing; some of these kids are dressing in the "latest" 80s fashions and the movie line up is retro too....The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Stand By Me and Heathers. The last two I recommended as they asked me help them find 80s films. Nice to be of some use.


There is absolutely no one who makes me laugh like Micaela makes me laugh. I could not have imagined, 14 years ago, as I cursed the heat and my enormous belly how much I would enjoy being the mother of a teenage girl. She speaks her mind, has great style, stands up for what she believes in and isn't afraid to show us affection in public or act like a total goof ball. Who else would skip down the bayou walking path with me while singing made up lyrics to hypothetical heavy metal songs? I know, no one. Truly she's a kindred spirit and I'm glad we met up this time around.

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.

Around here

I'm becoming a bagaholic...

Redwork Redux

I've been doing a bit of embroidery lately as I am tired of knitting. I started this last night and finished her this morning. We're calling her Miss Meow. I copied her off of a greeting card with a few modifications. I think I will send her on to my niece.

While stitching away I remembered a gorgeous redwork quilt I received for my 10th birthday. the Kliban Cats were very popular then and I asked for a Kliban quilt. My mother and aunt instead made me a redwork quilt with 16 panels, each depicting a cat in a different position. It had my name as well as theirs embroidered into the curves of different cat's tails. That quilt left home with me and my boyfriend and I slept together under that 10 year old girl quilt for 5 years. I have no idea what happened to it after we split up which makes me sad.

While sewing the front and back piece together I had to look up something in my sewing machine book. The machine belonged to my grandmother, who died when I was 13, and I found some notes she made in her lovely slanted cursive script. I felt at that moment very close to all the women in my family.

Finally, I thought it might be nice to look out from the screen for a change. Note crooked glasses...oh and new expression lines!